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as.  The  World's  Gold.     By  L.  DE  LAUNAV. 

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27.  Criminal  Man.     By  CESARE  LOMBROSO. 

28.  The  Origin  of  Life.     By  IT.  CHARLTON  BASTIIN. 

29.  The  Bacillus  of  Long  Life.        By  LOUOON  M.  DOUGLAS. 

30.  Social  Evil.     By  R.  A.  SELIGMAN. 

For  list  of  works  in  preparation  see  end  of  this  volume 


FOR 


RES&UWJIi 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  CONDITIONS 
EXISTING  IN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 


A  REPORT  PREPARED  [IN  1902]  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 

THE  COMMITTEE  OF  FIFTEEN 


SECOND  EDITION,  REVISED.  WITH  NEW  MATERIAL 
EDITED  BY 

EDWIN  R.  A.   SELIGMAN,  LL.D. 

MCVICKAR  PROFESSOR  OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY,  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK    AND     LONDON 

Gbe   Knickerbocker   press 
1912 


COPYRIGHT,  1902,  BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

REVISED  EDITION,  COPYRIGHT,  igi2,  BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Ubc  ftnfcfccrbocfter  press,  flew  £orfe 


MEMBERS   OF   THE    COMMITTEE    OF    FIFTEEN 

1900-1902 

*WILLIAM  H.  BALDWIN,  JR.,  Chairman, 

FELIX  ADLER, 
*JOEL  B.  ERHARDT, 

AUSTEN  G.  Fox, 
*JOHN  S.  KENNEDY, 

WILLIAM  J.  O'BRIEN, 

ALEXANDER  E.  ORR, 

GEORGE  FOSTER  PEABODY, 

GEORGE  HAVEN  PUTNAM, 
*J.  HARSEN  RHOADES, 

JACOB  H.  SCHIFF, 

ANDREW  J.  SMITH, 
*CHARLES  SPRAGUE  SMITH, 
*CHARLES  STEWART  SMITH, 

EDWIN  R.  A.  SELIGMAN,  Secretary. 

*Deceased  since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of  the  Report. 


111 


PREFACE  TO  THE  REVISED  EDITION 

IN  1877,  in  the  first  attempt  to  grapple  with  the 
difficulties  of  the  problem,  Professor  Sheldon  Amos 
wrote  in  the  preface  to  his  great  work r : 

"The  subject  of  this  treatise  encounters  peculiar 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  public  and  thorough  dis- 
cussion. It  receives  only  scanty  notice  at  the 
hands  of  public  journalists.  It  can  never  form  a 
topic  of  common  conversation.  It  carries  with  it 
a  reminder  of  shame,  miseries,  and  wrongs  which 
must  be  always  distressing,  and  therefore  instinc- 
tively shunned.  One  side  of  the  subject,  again,  is 
appropriated,  for  the  most  part,  by  special  members 
of  a  very  special  profession.  On  all  these  grounds 
it  might  be  expected  that  laws  and  police  regula- 
tions on  the  subject  would  resemble  those  plants 
which  prosper  best,  or  only,  in  the  shade. " 

Since  these  words  were  written  the  conditions 
have  changed  materially.  The  discussion  is  no 
longer  limited  to  the  medical  profession.  It  is 
being  more  and  more  recognised,  and  especially 

1 A  Comparative  Survey  of  Laws  in  Force  for  the  Prohibition,  Regula- 
tion, and  Licensing  of  Vice  in  England  and  Other  Countries.  London, 
1877. 

v 


VI 


Preface 


by  the  broad-minded  physicians  themselves,  that 
the  problem  is  fundamentally  a  social  and  ethical 
problem.  Slowly  but  surely  there  is  emerging  a 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  while  there  are  indeed 
grave  dangers  in  indiscriminate  discussion,  no 
progress  can  be  made  without  a  frank  and  full 
treatment  of  the  subject  and  a  dissemination  not 
alone  of  recent  medical  knowledge,  but  also  of  the 
teachings  of  modern  ethics,  economics,  and  social 
science,  so  far  as  they  affect  this  entire  topic. 
The  battle  has  been  half  won  when,  as  in  America 
to-day,  we  find  not  only  special  associations 
devoted  to  this  matter,  but  also  its  more  frequent 
appearance  on  the  programmes  of  many  of  our 
great  scientific  associations  dealing  with  social  and 
economic  questions. 

In  the  decade  that  has  elapsed  since  the  first 
edition  of  this  book  was  published,  there  are 
several  developments  that  call  for  notice:  first,  a 
growing  feeling  throughout  the  leading  European 
countries  that  regulation  is  becoming  more  and 
more  unsatisfactory;  second,  the  portentous  growth 
of  the  white  slave  traffic  and  the  initiation  of  inter- 
national legislation  designed  to  cope  with  it; 
third,  the  continuance  of  the  work  of  the  Committee 
of  Fifteen  in  New  York  City  by  the  Committee  of 
Fourteen  and  the  attempts  to  deal  in  detail  with 
the  administration  of  the  present  laws ;  and  finally, 
the  awakening  of  interest  throughout  the  United 
States  as  evidenced  especially  by  the  reports  of 


Preface  vii 

the  Chicago  and  Minneapolis  commissions,  and 
by  the  formation  of  the  new  national  society. 

When  the  publishers  of  this  work  approached 
me  with  the  statement  that  the  original  edition 
had  long  been  out  of  print,  and  asked  me  to  under- 
take a  new  edition  bringing  the  matter  down  to 
date,  I  felt  that,  however  difficult  it  might  be  for 
me  to  turn  aside  from  my  other  occupations,  T 
owed  it  as  a  duty  to  my  former  colleagues  to  under- 
take the  task.  In  these  ten  years  eight  out  of  the 
original  fifteen  members  of  the  Committee  of 
Fifteen,  including  its  distinguished  chairman,  have 
passed  away.  It  being,  therefore,  impracticable 
to  issue  this  new  edition  under  the  auspices  of  the 
committee  as  a  whole,  I  have,  after  consultation 
with  the  remaining  members,  decided  to  publish 
the  additional  matter  on  my  own  responsibility. 

The  report  proper  is  re-issued  without  any 
changes.  The  new  matter  will  be  found  in  Part 
III.  It  has  also  been  deemed  wise  to  include  a 
rather  comprehensive  bibliography  on  the  subject. 

In  preparing  this  new  matter  I  have  been  much 
helped  by  generous  gifts  of  material  from  the 
leaders  of  the  reform  movement  in  Europe,  notably 
from  Mme.  Avril  de  St.  Croix  of  Paris,  M.  Henri 
Minod  of  Geneva,  Frau  Katharina  Scheven  of 
Dresden,  and  Dr.  H.  M.  Wilson  and  Mr.  W.  A. 
Coote  of  London.  My  warm  thanks  are  also  ex- 
tended to  Miss  Marion  Dodd  of  the  New  York 
Vigilance  Society  for  assistance  in  compiling  the 


viii  Preface 

bibliography,  to  Mr.  Frederick  H.  Whitin  of  the 
Committee  of  Fourteen  for  gifts  of  material,  and 
to  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow  for  many  suggestions 
and  for  assistance  in  reading  the  proof. 

EDWIN  R.  A.  SELIGMAN. 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY, 
January,  1912. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  ORIGINAL  EDITION 

IN  the  fall  of  1900,  the  city  of  New  York  was 
startled  by  discoveries  in  regard  to  the  spread  of 
the  Social  Evil  in  certain  districts,  and  as  to  the 
extent  of  flagrant  offences  against  public  morality 
and  common  decency.  A  meeting  of  citizens  was 
held  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  November,  as 
a  result  of  which  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  was 
called  into  existence.  The  objects  which  the 
Committee  of  Fifteen  undertook  to  accomplish 
were  thereupon  stated  as  follows: 

(1)  To  institute  a  searching  inquiry,   uninflu- 
enced by  partisan  considerations,  into  the  causes 
of    the    present    alarming   increase   of   gambling 
and  the  Social  Evil  in  this  city,  and  to  collect 
such  evidence  as  shall  establish  the  connection 
between  existing  conditions  and  those  who,  in  the 
last  analysis,  are  responsible  for  these  conditions. 

(2)  To  publish  the  results  of  such  investiga- 
tions in  order  to  put  our  fellow-citizens  in  pos- 
session of  facts,  and  to  enable  them  to  adopt  such 
corrective  measures  as  may  be  needed. 

(3)  To  promote  such  legislation  as  shall  render 
it  less  difficult  to  reach  offenders,  and  as  shall 
put  an  end  to  the  shifting  and  division  of  respon- 


x  Preface 

sibility  in  the  local  administration  of  the  laws 
relating  to  vice  and  crime,  to  the  end  that  public 
officers  and  their  subordinates  may  be  held  to  a 
strict  accountability  for  their  acts. 

(4)  To  suggest  and  promote  the  provision  of 
more  wholesome  conditions  and  surroundings,  in 
order  to  lessen  the  allurements  and  incentives  to 
vice  and  crime. 

During  the  winter  and  spring  of  1901  the 
Committee  devoted  its  attention  chiefly  to  the 
first  object.  Its  corps  of  investigators  collected 
a  mass  of  information  and  evidence,  a  part  of 
which  was  utilised  in  bringing  some  of  the  offenders 
to  justice,  and  in  exposing  the  notorious  "cadet" 
system.  The  Committee  also  co-operated  with 
the  framers  of  the  new  Tenement  House  Bill  in 
securing  its  enactment  into  law.  As  a  result  of 
this  law  and  of  the  facts  collected  by  the  Committee, 
it  became  possible  to  take  measures  for  the  eradi- 
cation of  prostitution  from  the  tenement  houses. 

The  overthrow  of  the  control  of  the  municipal 
administration  by  Tammany  Hall  and  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Reform  movement  in  the  municipal 
campaign  of  1901  (a  campaign  in  which  the  in- 
formation supplied  by  the  Committee  of  Fifteen 
constituted  a  very  important  factor)  rendered  it 
possible  for  the  Committee  to  abandon  any  further 
work  of  a  police  nature  or  having  to  do  with  the 
supervision  of  public  morals. 


Preface 


XI 


The  third  object  of  the  Committee,  however, 
was  to  promote  satisfactory  legislation  on  the 
subject  of  the  Social  Evil.  In  order  to  make 
intelligent  preparation  for  its  recommendations, 
a  sub-committee  was  appointed  to  make  a  study 
of  the  history  of  regulation  and  its  application 
to  present  conditions  in  New  York.  The  sub- 
committee was  fortunate  in  securing  for  this  work 
the  services  of  Mr.  Alvin  S.  Johnson,  at  the  time 
University  Fellow  in  Economics  at  Columbia 
University,  and  now  Instructor  in  Economics  at 
Bryn  Mawr  College.  The  investigation  contained 
in  Part  I.  is  almost  entirely  the  work  of  Mr. 
Johnson,  to  whom  the  thanks  of  the  Committee 
are  due.  It  is  believed  not  only  that  the  report 
constitutes  a  valuable  scientific  contribution  to  the 
subject,  but  that  in  no  other  publication  can  there 
be  found  so  comprehensive  or  so  clear  a  statement 
of  the  problems  involved.  Certain  features  of 
the  Raines  Law  are  so  intimately  connected  with 
the  existence  of  prostitution  in  New  York  that  it 
has  been  deemed  wise  to  include  in  the  appendix 
an  account  of  that  law. 

The  conclusions  and  recommendations  of  the 
Committee  itself  are  found  in  Part  II.  The 
appendix  to  this  part  contains  a  summary  of  the 
operations  of  the  Committee  with  special  relation 
to  the  "cadet"  system  and  to  the  existence  of  the 
Social  Evil  in  tenement  houses. 

NEW  YORK,  January  2,  1902. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 

THE  SOCIAL  EVIL 
CHAPTER  I 

PACK 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  PROSTITUTION       ...  i 

Universality  of  the  social  evil,  i — Variations  in  the  volume  of 
vice,  3 — Characteristics  of  prostitution  in  ancient,  mediaeval, 
and  modern  times,  4 — Causes  of  prostitution,  6 — City 
life  as  stimulating  masculine  vice,  7 — Characteristics  of 
the  feminine  factor  in  vice,  8 

CHAPTER  II 
REGULATION — ANCIENT,  MEDIEVAL,  AND  MODERN          12 

Aims  of  ancient  regulation,  12 — Masculine  impurity  over- 
looked, 13 — Free  women  of  loose  morals  assimilated  to 
slave  class,  14 — Mediaeval  policy  originally  repressive, 
15 — Ends  of  mediaeval  regulation,  16 — R61e  of  prostitute 
of  social  life  in  Middle  Ages,  17 — Breakdown  of  mediaeval 
regulation,  19 — Modern  regulation  entirely  distinct  from 
mediaeval,  20 — Prominence  of  sanitary  feature,  21 

CHAPTER  III 

o 

REGULATION  OF  PROSTITUTION  IN  PARIS    .         .  aa 

Germ  of  discretionary  power  of  police,  23 — First  treatment 

of    imprisoned    prostitutes,    23 — Treatment    preliminary 

to    imprisonment,    24 — Origin    of    idea    of    registration, 

25 — Preventive   inspection,   25 — Collection   of   fees   from 

ziii 


xiv  Contents 


prostitutes;  abuses,  27 — Plan  of  confining  vice  to  licensed 
houses,  27 — Abolition  of  fees,  27 — Registration  of  minors, 
27 — Present  system,  28 — Morals  service,  29 — Medical 
service,  29 — Legal  basis,  30 


CHAPTER  IV 

REGULATION  IN  BERLIN  AND  IN  OTHER  CITIES  OF 

EUROPE  .......  32 

Breakdown  of  mediaeval  regulation  in  Berlin,  32 — Regulations 
of  1700,  32 — Growth  of  vice  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
34 — Regulations  of  1792,  34 — Principle  of  responsibility, 
35 — Penalty  upon  transmission  of  disease,  35 — Periodic 
examinations,  36 — Taxation,  36 — Hostility  to  regulation, 
37 — Attempt  to  localize  vice,  38 — Closing  of  licensed  houses, 
41 — Existing  regulations,  42 — Essential  similarity  of  systems 
of  Paris  and  Berlin,  44 — Segregation  in  Bremen,  46 — Morals 
service  in  Vienna,  47 — Extent  of  sanitary  regulation,  48 

CHAPTER  V 
THE  SANITARY  ASPECT  OF  MODERN  REGULATION  50 

Difficulty  of  ascertaining  extent  of  venereal  disease,  50 — Re- 
porting of  disease  in  Norway,  51 — Disease  in  European 
armies,  53 — Serious  nature  of  burden  upon  society,  54 — 
Disease  common  to  all  ranks,  56 — To  regard  disease  as 
a  just  penalty  for  vice  a  narrow  view,  56 — Youth  of  many 
who  are  contaminated,  57 — Innocent  victims,  57 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  MORAL  ASPECT  OF  REGULATION         .  59 

Vice  a  greater  evil  than  disease,  59 — Need  of  social  action 
against  vice,  60 — Possibility  of  amelioration,  61 — Pro- 
tection of  children,  62 — Poverty  and  vice,  63 — Restoration 
of  fallen  women  to  honorable  life,  63 


Contents  xv 


CHAPTER  VII 

FUNDAMENTAL   OPPOSITION   BETWEEN   MORAL  AND 

SANITARY  CONTROL  .....  65 

Friction  between  morals  and  sanitary  service,  65 — Essential 
features  of  sanitary  control,  66 — Complexity  of  modern 
vice,  68 — Temporary  prostitution,  68 — Registration  a 
deterrent  to  reform,  69 — Registration  of  minors  inadmis- 
sible, 71 — State  control  as  encouragement  to  vice,  72 — 
Regulation  as  a  handicap  in  the  effecting  of  moral  reform, 
73 — Regulation  a  violation  of  the  best  public  sentiment, 
77 — Encroachment  upon  individual  liberty,  77 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PRACTICAL   DIFFICULTIES  IN  THE  REGULATION  OF 

PROSTITUTION  .....  79 

A  great  part  of  prostitution  cannot  be  subjected  to  control, 
79 — Minors,  80 — Clandestine  prostitutes,  80 — Difficulty 
in  compelling  submission,  81 — Percentage  of  prostitution 
actually  controlled  in  European  cities,  83 — The  part 
subjected  not  really  the  most  dangerous,  84 — Subjected 
prostitutes  not  rendered  innocuous,  88 — Imperfection 
of  present  method  of  inspection,  89 — Expensiveness  of 
efficient  system,  90 — Impossibility  of  self-sustaining 
morals  service,  91 — Evasion  on  part  of  diseased,  92 — 
Insufficiency  of  treatment,  94 — Mediate  contagion,  95 — 
Amelioration  only  temporary  at  best,  96 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  ACTUAL  EFFECTIVENESS  OF  SANITARY  CONTROL          98 

Worthlessness  of  comparisons  of  morbidity  between  different 
cities,  98 — Imperfections  of  venereal  statistics,  100 — 
Spontaneous  fluctuations  in  disease,  100 — Statistics  for 
England  for  period  of  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  101 — 


xvi  Contents 

PACK 

Criticism,  102 — Danger  of  applying  results  of  small  cities 
to  facts  of  large  ones,  104 — Norwegian  statistics,  105 — 
Italian  regulations,  107 — Dorpat,  108 — St.  Louis,  109 — 
Modern  tendency  to  discard  statistics,  no — Common 
sense,  in — Opinions  of  modern  authorities,  112 

CHAPTER  X 

PROBABLE  EFFECTIVENESS  OF  REGULATION  IN  NEW 

YORK 114 

Legal  considerations,  114 — Prostitution  a  status,  115;  a  special 
trade,  115 — Difficulty  of  establishing  fact  of  prostitution, 
117 — Control  of  prostitution  compared  with  measures 
for  checking  contagious  diseases,  117 — Penalising  of 
debauch  as  basis  of  control,  117 — Difficulty  of  coping 
with  clandestine  prostitution  in  New  York,  118 — Impos- 
sibility of  keeping  suspected  part  of  population  under 
surveillance,  119 — Migration  as  an  additional  difficulty 
in  control,  120 


CHAPTER  XI 
MORAL  REGULATION  OF  VICE  .         .         .         .  123 

Repression  and  reglementation  not  essentially  hostile,  123 — 
Possibility  of  a  system  embodying  common  elements, 
124 — Preservation  of  public  decency,  124 — Dissociation 
of  vice  and  legitimate  pleasures,  125 — Control  in  brothels, 
126 — Children  to  be  freed  from  contact  with  vice,  127 — 
Housing  conditions,  128 — Education,  128 — Prostitution 
of  minors,  129 — Necessity  of  free  treatment  for  venereal 
disease,  130 — Infection  of  innocent  persons,  132 — Admin- 
istration, 133 


APPENDIX 
THE  "  RAINES  LAW  HOTEL  "  AND  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL      135 


Contents  xvii 

PAGE 

PART  II 
RECOMMENDATIONS  OF  THE  COMMITTEE      .        .  147 

APPENDIX 
CONDITIONS  IN  NEW  YORK  (1902)      .        .        .  155 

PART  III 

A  DECADE'S  DEVELOPMENT,  1902-1912 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  EUROPEAN  MOVEMENT       ....  163 

I.  The  Repeal  of  the  English  Laws,  164 — 2.  The  Inter- 
national Abolitionist  Federation,  169 — 3.  The  Brussels 
International  Conferences,  177 — 4.  The  French  Extra- 
Parliamentary  Commission  and  the  Present  European 
Situation,  186. 

CHAPTER  II 
THE  WHITE  SLAVE  TRAFFIC  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA    196 

I.  The  White  Slave  Traffic  in  Europe,  197 — 2.  The  White 
Slave  Traffic  in  America,  207. 

CHAPTER  III 
TEN  YEARS'  PROGRESS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  .  215 

i .  The  Committee  of  Fourteen ,  2 1 5 — 2 .  The  Societies  Formed 
to  Combat  the  Social  Evil,  221 — 3.  The  Page  Law  in 
New  York  and  the  Vice  Commissions  in  Chicago  and 
Minneapolis,  231. 

APPENDIX 

SANITARY  SUPERVISION  OF  THE  SOCIAL  EVIL      .  246 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 261 

INDEX 291 


PART  I. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  PROSTITUTION 

PROSTITUTION  is  a  phenomenon  coextensive 
with  civilised  society.  Barbarous  and  semi-bar- 
barous peoples  have  at  times  been  free  from  it. 
The  ancient  Germans,  we  are  told,  tolerated  no 
prostitution  in  their  midst;  and  there  are  said  to 
be  Siberian  and  African  tribes  to-day  of  which 
the  same  thing  is  true.  But  no  sooner  has  a 
people  attained  a  moderate  degree  of  civilisation 
than  this  social  curse  has  fallen  upon  it;  nor  has 
any  race  reached  a  point  of  moral  elevation  where 
this  form  of  vice  has  disappeared. 

The  most  venerable  traditions,  the  most  ancient 
records,  all  bear  testimony  to  the  antiquity  of 
prostitution.  Even  a  careless  reader  of  Script- 
ure knows  how  constantly  it  beset  the  ancient 
Hebrews,  and  how  vain  were  the  efforts  of  sages 
and  lawgivers  to  stamp  it  out.  Nurtured  by  a 


2  The  Social  Evil 

vicious  religion,  it  flourished  throughout  Asia 
Minor;  and  when  civilisation  moved  westward 
to  Greece  and  Rome,  prostitution  followed  as 
its  shadow.  The  rise  of  the  mediaeval  cities  in 
Western  Europe  was  marked  by  the  introduction 
of  the  brothel.  The  great  development  of  trade 
and  commerce  that  ushered  in  modern  times  was 
also  responsible  for  the  universalising  of  "the 
social  evil." 

Glancing  at  present  conditions,  we  find  that 
no  important  nation  is  free  from  the  taint.  The 
great  cities  of  the  world  vie  with  each  other  in 
the  vast  numbers  of  those  who  gain  their  living 
by  immorality.  Nor  is  there  reason  to  think 
that  this  condition  is  transitory.  He  would  be 
an  optimist  indeed  who  could  believe  that  a  time 
will  come  when  the  problem  of  prostitution  shall 
cease  to  be  important.  Like  the  pauper,  the 
prostitute  is  a  creature  of  civilisation,  and,  like 
the  pauper,  will  continue  to  thrust  her  undesir- 
able presence  upon  society. 

The  fact  that  prostitution  is  practically  universal 
has  impressed  itself  strongly  upon  the  numerous 
writers  who  have  dealt  with  the  subject.  The 
inference  has  frequently  been  drawn  that  all 
efforts  to  suppress  or  restrict  vice  must  be  vain, 
and  that  the  only  rational  course  to  pursue  is  to 
recognise  its  existence  and  to  minimise  its  attend- 
ant dangers.  There  have  been  authorities  who 
held  the  view  that  vice  is  an  essential  element 


The  Problem  of  Prostitution  3 

in  society,  hence  ineradicable.  Others  have  gone 
so  far  as  to  affirm  that  what  is  best  and  purest 
in  civilisation  could  not  have  existed  but  for  the 
sacrifice  of  a  portion  of  womankind  to  immorality.1 
The  saner  authorities,  however,  content  them- 
selves with  stating  that  vice  is  the  inevitable 
result  of  causes  which  society  has  never  yet  been 
able  to  control. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  vice  is  a  constant  and 
invariable  element  in  social  life.  This  is,  however, 
obviously  untrue.  So  far  as  one  can  judge  from 
the  fragmentary  history  of  morality,  periods  of 
gross  licentiousness  have  alternated  with  periods 
of  comparative  decency.  The  degrading  influence 
that  intercourse  with  a  lascivious  nation  has 
exercised  upon  a  people  of  comparatively  pure 
morals  is  well  known  to  every  student  of  history. 
The  Romans  were  disciples  of  the  Greeks  in  im- 
morality as  well  as  in  arts  and  sciences.  The 
renewal  of  intercourse  with  the  East  that  followed 
the  Crusades  was  attended  by  a  serious  deteriora- 
tion of  European  morals.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
spread  of  Christianity,  the  Reformation,  and  the 
rise  of  chivalry,  it  is  generally  admitted,  brought 
about  a  decided  improvement  in  the  moral  tone 
of  Europe. 

Social  and  economic  changes  have  frequently 
been  marked  by  an  increase  or  a  diminution  in 

1  Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  ii.,  299;  Hugel,  Zur  Geschichte, 
Statistik  und  Regelung  der  Prostitution,  76. 


4  The  Social  Evil 

vice.  A  prolonged  war,  more  especially  if  it  be 
a  civil  war,  has  generally  resulted  in  an  exaggera- 
tion of  this  evil.  The  Thirty  Years'  War  and  the 
French  Revolution  are  notorious  in  this  respect. 
Even  minor  phenomena,  such  as  commercial  dis- 
turbances, are  not  without  a  demonstrable  effect 
upon  the  volume  of  vice. 

That  vice  is  a  varying  phenomenon,  bearing 
no  constant  relation  to  population,  is  evident  to 
any  one  who  has  studied  the  conditions  of  modern 
cities.  It  has  been  affirmed  that  the  greater  the 
city,  the  larger  will  be  the  proportion  of  the 
vicious.  While  this  is  probably  true,  yet  certain 
cities  have  attained  a  pre-eminence  in  evil  repu- 
tation that  is  not  to  be  accounted  for  merely  by 
their  size  and  wealth. 

This  fact,  that  vice  varies  from  age  to  age  and 
from  place  to  place,  is  a  sufficient  indication  that 
the  causes  of  which  it  is  the  result  do  not  operate 
with  uniform  force.  It  suggests  the  idea  that 
while  it  may  be  impossible  to  control  all  of  the 
causes  of  prostitution,  and  so  to  eradicate  it, 
certain  of  them  may  be  brought  under  control, 
with  the  result  of  limiting  the  evil. 

Not  less  striking  than  the  variations  in  the 
volume  of  vice  are  the  variations  in  its  general 
character.  In  Rome  the  masculine  factor  in 
vice  consisted  in  the  soldiers  and  freedmen,  the 
gladiators  and  ruffians,  the  throngs  of  the  idle 
and  turbulent  that  congregated  in  the  great  capital 


The  Problem  of  Prostitution  5 

of  the  world.  The  feminine  factor  was  made  up 
chiefly  of  the  vast  numbers  of  slave  women,  cap- 
tured in  the  unceasing  wars  of  conquest.  Roman 
vice  reached  its  climax  when  these  elements  grew 
to  such  proportions  as  to  overshadow  orderly 
society.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  masculine  factor 
consisted  in  the  soldiers  of  fortune,  travellers  and 
outlaws,  apprentices  and  pseudo-clergy,  that  made 
up  the  floating  population.  The  feminine  factor 
was  largely  composed  of  women  abducted  by 
robber  bands,  captured  in  petty  wars  and  abused 
by  the  soldiery,  and  of  the  neglected  offspring  of 
these  unfortunates.  As  the  floating  population 
increased  with  the  breaking  up  of  the  old  order, 
as  wars  became  more  prolonged  and  their  demoral- 
ising effect  more  general,  mediaeval  prostitution 
attained  extraordinary  proportions.  All  society 
seemed  to  be  demoralised.  Modern  prostitution 
bears  the  peculiar  stamp  of  modern  social  and 
industrial  conditions.  The  hosts  of  unmarried 
workers  of  the  great  trading  or  industrial  city 
represent  the  masculine  factor;  the  feminine  fac- 
tor consists  of  women  and  girls  from  the  midst 
of  the  social  organism  who  have  been  impelled  by 
circumstances  to  make  a  quasi-voluntary  choice 
of  prostitution  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  Speaking 
generally,  we  may  say  that  the  ancient  prostitute 
was  a  slave,  the  mediaeval  prostitute  an  alien,  the 
modern  prostitute  is  a  citizen. 

The  fact  is  not  to  be  overlooked  that  there  is 


6  The  Social  Evil 

an  element  in  prostitution  which  remains  fairly 
constant.  In  every  society  there  have  been  women 
whom  circumstances  have  destined  for  honourable 
life,  but  who  from  innate  perversity  chose  the  life 
of  shame.  Modern  criminal  anthropologists  have 
shown  that  in  physical,  mental,  and  moral  charac- 
teristics these  women  form  a  type  which  varies 
little  with  time  and  place.  Some  scientists  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  declare  that  these  are  the  only 
real  prostitutes.1 

The  truth  seems  to  be,  however,  that  the  im- 
portance of  this  element  is  greatly  overestimated. 
The  victim  of  force  or  fraud,  or  of  adverse  social 
and  economic  conditions,  soon  reaches  a  point 
where  she  is  indistinguishable  from  the  congenital 
pervert. 

It  is  a  trite  saying  that  the  real  cause,  the 
causa  causans,  of  prostitution  is  to  be  sought  in 
the  male  factor.  A  community,  it  is  said,  will 
have  as  much  vice  as  it  is  willing  to  pay  for. 
"Demand  will  create  a  supply."  In  this  bald 
and  cynical  form  the  statement  is  obviously  un- 
true. There  is  not  in  any  community  an  indefinite 
number  of  women  who  are  ready  to  sell  their 
honour  for  a  sufficient  price.  The  number  who  do 
so  varies  chiefly  for  reasons  that  are  independent 
of  the  "demand."  Nevertheless,  the  idea  is  not 
without  a  fraction  of  truth.  Under  existing  con- 
ditions, many  women  are  attracted,  rather  than 

1  Lombroso,  B.  Tarnowsky,  Pauline  Tarnowsky,  Strohmberg. 


The  Problem  of  Prostitution  7 

forced,  into  prostitution.  The  greater  the  earnings 
of  the  prostitute,  the  richer  her  attire,  and  the 
more  luxurious  her  mode  of  life,  the  stronger  is 
the  attraction  for  those  who  are  upon  the  bor- 
derland of  vice  and  virtue.  Accordingly,  any 
account  of  the  causes  of  prostitution  may  prop- 
erly begin  with  a  consideration  of  the  general 
reasons  that  are  responsible  for  an  extensive 
"demand." 

This  problem  is  intimately  connected  with  that 
of  the  movement  of  population  toward  the  city. 
A  great  part  of  the  population  of  a  modern  city 
consists  of  young  men  who  have  drifted  thither 
from  the  country  and  small  towns,  attracted  by 
the  greater  opportunities  of  rising  in  social  life  and 
by  the  greater  degree  of  personal  comfort  that  the 
city  offers.  As  a  rule,  the  income  that  a  young 
man  earns,  while  sufficient  to  secure  a  fair  degree 
of  comfort  for  himself,  does  not  suffice  for  found- 
ing a  family.  As  his  income  increases,  his  standard 
of  personal  comfort  rises;  accordingly,  he  post- 
pones marriage  until  a  date  in  the  indefinite 
future,  or  abandons  expectation  of  it  altogether. 
His  interests  centre  almost  wholly  in  himself. 
He  is  responsible  to  no  one  but  himself.  The 
pleasures  that  he  may  obtain  from  day  to  day 
become  the  chief  end  of  his  life.  A  popular 
philosophy  of  hedonism  furnishes  him  with  a 
theoretical  justification  for  the  inclinations  that 
are  developed  by  the  circumstances  in  which  he  is 


8  The  Social  Evil 

placed.  It  is  not  unnatural,  then,  that  the  strong- 
est native  impulse  of  man  should  find  expression 
in  the  only  way  open  to  it — indulgence  in  vice. 

At  the  same  time  that  personal  scruples  with 
regard  to  continency  dissolve  in  the  crucible  of 
city  life,  the  main  external  check  upon  a  man's 
conduct,  the  opinion  of  his  neighbours,  which  has 
such  a  powerful  influence  in  the  country  or  small 
town,  tends  to  disappear.  In  a  great  city  one  has 
no  neighbours.  No  man  knows  the  doings  of  even 
his  close  friends;  few  men  care  what  the  secret 
life  of  their  friends  may  be.  Thus,  with  his  moral 
sensibilities  blunted,  the  young  man  is  left  free 
to  follow  his  own  inclinations.  The  greater  the 
city,  as  a  rule,  the  more  pronounced  in  this  re- 
spect is  its  demoralising  influence;  and  our  cities 
are  growing  steadily  greater  and  are  in  an  ever 
greater  degree  setting  the  moral  tone  for  the 
country  as  a  whole.  The  problem  of  mascu- 
line vice,  it  will  be  seen,  is  an  integral  part 
of  that  infinitely  complex  problem,  the  "Social 
Question." 

It  would  be  impossible  in  a  brief  sketch  to 
analyse  the  complicated  phenomena  of  feminine 
vice.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  select  a  few  of 
the  most  important  and  most  characteristically 
modern  elements.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  a 
large  class  of  women  who  may  be  said  to  have  been 
trained  for  prostitution  from  earliest  childhood. 
Foundlings  and  orphans  and  the  offspring  of  the 


The  Problem  of  Prostitution  9 

miserably  poor,  they  grow  up  in  wretched  tene- 
ments, contaminated  by  constant  familiarity  with 
vice  in  its  lowest  forms.  Without  training,  mental 
or  moral,  they  remain  ignorant  and  disagreeable, 
slovenly  and  uncouth,  good  for  nothing  in  the 
social  and  economic  organism.  When  half  ma- 
tured they  fall  the  willing  victims  of  their  male 
associates,  and  inevitably  drift  into  prostitution. 
This  element  is  to  be  found  in  almost  every 
large  city;  but  it  is  in  London  where  it  is  to  be 
found  in  the  greatest  extent  and  the  greatest 
hideousness. 

Another  form  is  closely  connected  with  the 
appearance  of  women  in  industry.  In  many 
cities  there  are  great  classes  of  women  without 
any  resources  excepting  their  earnings  as  needle- 
women, day-workers,  domestics,  or  factory  hands. 
These  earnings  are  often  so  small  as  barely  to 
suffice  for  the  urgent  needs  of  the  day.  A  season 
of  non-employment  presents  them  with  the  alter- 
natives of  starvation  or  prostitution.  These  form 
the  "occasional  prostitutes,"  who,  according  to 
Blaschko,  far  outnumber  all  others  in  the  city  of 
Berlin.  When  employment  is  again  to  be  had  they 
withdraw  from  the  life  of  shame,  if  its  irregulari- 
ties have  not  incapacitated  them  for  honourable 
labour. 

A  third  class,  one  which  is  more  or  less  typical 
of  American  prostitution,  is  made  up  of  those  who 
cannot  be  said  to  be  driven  into  prostitution  either 


io  The  Social  Evil 

by  absolute  want  or  by  exceptionally  pernicious 
surroundings.  They  may  be  employed  at  living 
wages,  but  the  prospect  of  continuing  from  year 
to  year  with  no  change  from  tedious  and  irksome 
labour  creates  discontent  and  eventually  rebellion. 
They,  too,  are  impregnated  with  the  view  that 
individual  happiness  is  the  end  of  life,  and  their 
lives  bring  them  no  happiness,  and  promise  them 
none.  The  circumstances  of  city  life  make  it 
possible  for  them  to  experiment  with  immorality 
without  losing  such  social  standing  as  they  may 
have,  and  thus  many  of  them  drift  gradually  into 
professional  prostitution. 

Any  social  problem,  it  must  be  remembered, 
appears  impossible  of  solution  when  whole  classes 
are  viewed  as  units.  The  influences  that  are 
chiefly  responsible  for  the  great  mass  of  vice  are 
not  within  the  control  of  government.  Yet  it 
is  evident  that  there  are  infinite  gradations  from 
those  who  would  remain  pure  under  any  circum- 
stances to  those  who  are  almost  destined  by  nature 
or  surroundings  to  succumb  to  vice,  and  that 
those  who  are  upon  the  margin  of  a  life  of  shame 
may  be  rescued  or  degraded  by  social  action.  By 
private  and  public  means  something  can  be  done 
to  improve  the  surroundings  of  poor  children,  to 
relieve  the  distress  of  industrial  workers  in  times  of 
non-employment,  to  improve  the  outlook  of  those 
women  whose  lives  are  to  be  spent  in  the  abnormal 
environment  of  factory  and  shop.  Experience 


The  Problem  of  Prostitution  n 

has  shown  the  futility  of  measures  that  aim  to 
abolish  the  evil.  There  is,  however,  every  a 
priori  reason  to  believe  that  its  extent  may  be 
limited  by  a  judicious  policy  of  prevention. 


CHAPTER  II 

REGULATION — ANCIENT,  MEDIEVAL,  AND  MODERN 

Ancient  Regulations. — Of  the  ancient  nations 
with  the  life  of  which  we  are  best  acquainted,  the 
Hebrews  alone  understood  that  prostitution  is 
itself  a  serious  evil.  The  Greeks  and  the  Romans 
saw  clearly  that  certain  evils  resulted  from  it,  and 
it  was  their  constant  endeavour  to  divest  it  of 
those  attendant  evils.  The  trend  of  Jewish  legis- 
lation may  accordingly  be  described  as  repressive ; 
that  of  Greece  and  Rome  as  regulative. 

In  Greece  and  Rome  the  evils  that  were  the 
subject  of  legislation  were  religious,  social,  and 
political — never  hygienic.  Religion  required  that 
the  family  should  be  preserved  in  its  integrity 
from  generation  to  generation;  hence  anything 
that  would  make  legitimacy  of  offspring  doubtful 
was  execrated.  Politics  required  the  greatest 
possible  number  of  citizens  of  pure  blood;  hence 
anything  that  would  incapacitate  the  daughters 
of  citizens  for  marriage  and  motherhood  was  con- 
sidered a  public  calamity.  As  a  result,  we  find  a 
body  of  drastic  legislation  which  made  the  woman 

12 


Regulation — Ancient  and  Modern       13 

whose  honour  was  tainted  a  total  outcast  from 
society.  It  was  the  aim  of  the  legislator  to  pre- 
vent, so  far  as  possible,  the  fall  of  free  women,  and 
to  make  impossible  the  return  to  decent  society  of 
such  as  had  fallen. 

The  social  consequences  of  masculine  vice  prac- 
tically escaped  the  notice  of  the  Greek  and  Roman. 
Although  there  is  evidence  enough  that  venereal 
disease  existed,  its  effect  upon  the  welfare  of  the 
community  was  not  understood.  The  existence 
of  a  numerous  class  of  slaves  obviated  the  ne- 
cessity of  sacrificing  free  women  to  immorality. 
Accordingly,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  utmost 
latitude  of  conduct  was  granted  to  the  freeman, 
while  regularity  of  life  on  the  part  of  free  women 
was  enforced  with  the  utmost  severity.  The 
preservation  of  city,  clan,  and  family  depended 
upon  the  chastity  of  the  women ;  it  did  not  depend 
in  anything  like  the  same  degree  upon  the  chastity 
of  the  men. 

It  was  impossible,  to  be  sure,  to  confine  vice 
absolutely  to  slave  women.  But  if  free  women 
fell,  they  were  assimilated  to  the  class  of  slaves. 
In  Rome  they  had  no  right  to  enjoy  their  property, 
they  had  no  control  over  their  children,  they 
could  not  give  oath  or  make  accusation.  Their 
status  differed  from  that  of  slaves  in  that  they 
had  no  particular  master.  They  were,  in  a  sense, 
public  property,  and  were  required  to  live  in 
quarters  set  apart  for  them,  and  were  subjected 


H  The  Social  Evil 

to  regulations  as  to  dress  and  conduct  which  might 
distinguish  them  as  such  wherever  they  might 
be.  In  Rome,  as  early  as  180  B.C.,  they  were 
registered  in  the  books  of  the  sediles,  in  order 
that  their  peculiar  status  might  be  the  more 
perfectly  defined.1 

After  Rome  had  grown  into  a  world  empire, 
the  line  between  slave  and  serf,  freedman  and  free- 
born,  tended  to  become  obscure.  At  the  same 
time,  a  thorough  degradation  of  morals  permeated 
all  society,  so  that  it  was  no  longer  possible  to 
separate  the  immoral  from  the  honourable.  Pro- 
stitutes still  formed  a  special  class,  but  such  regu- 
lation as  continued  to  exist  had  for  its  chief  purpose 
the  collection  of  revenue  from  the  earnings  of 
the  public  prostitute.  This  end  also  was  aban- 
doned when  a  higher  type  of  imperial  authority 
realised  the  dishonour  of  public  sharing  in  infamous 
gains.  Under  the  Christian  Emperors  repressive 
laws  were  enacted,  thus  concluding  definitely 
classical  regulation  of  vice. 2 

Modern  writers  have  sometimes  claimed  that 
prostitution  was  "tolerated"  in  Rome  and  Greece 
as  a  means  of  combating  the  unnatural  vice  which 

1  The  origin  of  the  special  quarter  and  the  special  garb  is  probably 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  public  women  were  originally  "priest- 
esses" of  Venus,  and  lived  in  the  precincts  of  the  shrines  and  wore  a 
garb  indicating  their  religious  office.  The  transition  to  the  status 
of  public  slaves  with  the  fading  out  of  the  religious  idea  can  be  easily 
understood. 

3  Parent- Duchatelet,  De  la  Prostitution  dans  la  ville  de  Paris,  3d  ed., 
vol.  ii.,  268. 


Regulation — Ancient  and  Modern       15 

was  so  common  in  ancient  civilisation.  It  is  a 
sufficient  refutation  of  this  position  that  not  until 
a  comparatively  late  date  was  unnatural  vice 
considered  an  evil,  while  prostitution  was  permitted 
from  the  earliest  times.  Moreover,  so  numerous 
were  the  slave  women  devoted  to  infamy  that  it 
is  difficult  to  conceive  how  any  one  can  believe  that 
it  was  dearth  of  "natural"  vice  that  was  respon- 
sible for  the  hideous  development  of  unnatural 
vice  that  disfigured  the  history  of  decadent  Greece 
and  Rome. 

Mediceval  Regulation  of  Vice. — At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Middle  Ages  the  states  of  Western 
Europe  pursued  a  strictly  repressive  policy  with 
regard  to  prostitution.  The  capitularies  of  Charle- 
magne imposed  upon  the  prostitute  and  those 
who  sheltered  her  imprisonment,  whipping,  and 
exposure.  For  this  severity,  the  legislation  of 
the  late  Roman  and  Byzantine  Emperors  was  no 
doubt  partially  responsible.  A  more  potent  in- 
fluence was,  however,  exercised  by  the  early 
Teutonic  customs  and  laws.  Tacitus  states  that 
in  some  German  tribes  women  of  unchaste  life 
were  punished  by  death.  The  Salic  law  prescribed 
banishment  for  them,  and  the  laws  of  the  Visi- 
goths (600  A.D.)  inflicted  the  penalty  of  beating 
with  rods. 

But  as  population  increased  and  became  more 
settled  the  treatment  of  the  vicious  underwent 
a  gradual  change.  By  the  tenth  century,  the 


16  The  Social  Evil 

persecution  of  the  prostitute  had  practically  ceased. 
Prostitution  came  to  be  tolerated,  but  under 
regulations  that  were  aimed  to  divest  it  of  the 
consequences  that  to  the  mediaeval  mind  seemed 
evil.  In  1 1 80  Henry  II.  gave  a  royal  patent  for 
the  legalisation  of  public  houses  of  prostitution  in 
London.  They  were  established  in  Hamburg  in 
the  year  1272;  Regensburg,  1306;  Zurich,  1314; 
Basel,  1356;  Avignon,  1347;  Vienna,  1384.  The 
ordinance  of  St.  Louis,  1254,  and  the  laws  of 
Naples  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  reflect 
the  severity  of  early  Teutonic  legislation.  These 
laws  were,  however,  merely  the  outcome  of  the 
religious  zeal  of  the  rulers;  they  did  not  represent 
the  public  sentiment  of  the  time.  They  do  not 
appear  ever  to  have  been  systematically  enforced. 
Mediaeval  regulation  is  best  understood  by 
refefence  to  the  ends  it  was  designed  to  •  meet. 
Preservation  of  the  existing  order  of  things  was 
regarded  as  of  cardinal  importance.  The  in- 
tegrity of  the  family  was  looked  upon  as  vital; 
accordingly,  the  severest  penalties  were  inflicted 
upon  unchaste  wives  and  daughters  of  burghers. 
It  was  believed  that  if  provision  were  made  for 
the  satisfaction  of  the  vicious  impulses  of  the  float- 
ing population,  the  family  would  be  secured  from 
invasion.  Therefore  the  brothel  was  not  only 
tolerated;  it  was  considered  a  necessary  and  a 
useful  adjunct  to  city  life.  This  will  account  for 
the  fact  that  the  house  of  ill  fame  was  often  built 


Regulation — Ancient  and  Modern       17 

at  public  expense  and  managed  on  public  account, 
and  for  the  voting  of  funds  for  securing  from 
abroad  inmates  for  the  public  house.  It  also 
explains  the  condition  sometimes  imposed  upon 
the  citizen  who  leased  such  an  establishment,  that 
he  should  provide  a  sufficient  number  of  suitable 
inmates. 

It  was  also  essential  that  public  women  should 
form  a  class  absolutely  distinct.  They  were 
normally  secured  from  foreign  countries,  or,  at 
any  rate,  from  beyond  the  city's  domain.  They 
remained  aliens;  and  if  any  woman  from  within 
the  ranks  of  decent  society  fell  from  virtue,  she 
became  an  alien,  in  status  and  was  for  ever  debarred 
from  returning  to  her  kin.  They  were  required 
to  live  in  a  special  quarter  and  wear  a  distinguish- 
ing mark  upon  their  clothing,  usually  a  yellow  or 
red  ribbon  upon  the  sleeve,  so  that  no  mistake 
might  be  made  as  to  their  character. 

There  was  no  trace  of  the  modern  feeling  that 
vice  should  be  quite  hidden  from  respectability, 
ignored  by  decent  society.  The  prostitute  played 
no  mean  role  in  the  social  life  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
As  such,  she  took  part  in  public  processions,  and 
even  in  sacred  festivals.  The  brothel  was  bound 
to  entertain  notables  who  visited  the  city.  In 


1  The  student  of  the  origin  of  social  customs  will  at  once  suspect  a 
relation  between  the  functions  of  public  women  at  festivals  and  the 
orgies  in  celebration  of  certain  pagan  deities.  As  a  fact,  the  connection 
would  not  be  difficult  to  trace. 


i8       .  The  Social  Evil 

short,  the  Middle  Ages  believed  vice  to  be  nothing 
evil,  so  long  as  it  showed  its  true  colours. 

The  second  aim  of  the  mediaeval  legislator  was 
to  prevent  the  brothel  from  becoming  a  centre  of 
disorder.  At  all  times  the  prostitute  and  the 
outlaw  have  been  natural  allies.  Wherever  houses 
of  ill  fame  were  grouped  in  special  quarters, 
thieves  and  cutthroats  congregated,  menacing 
the  persons  and  property  of  the  citizens. x 

It  was  the  mediaeval  policy  to  fix  responsibility 
upon  groups,  rather  than  upon  individuals.  This 
idea  appears  in  the  regulation  of  prostitution. 
Sometimes  the  public  women  were  organised  in 
guilds,  which  chose  a  head  who  was  responsible 
for  everything  that  might  occur  in  the  brothel. 
This  was  the  case  in  Nuremberg;  and,  after  the 
fashion  of  other  guilds,  the  licensed  prostitutes 
took  it  upon  themselves  to  prosecute  persons  who 
infringed  upon  their  monopoly.  Sometimes  they 
were  placed  under  the  charge  of  a  special  official 
who  decided  all  cases  of  injury  committed  by  them 
or  against  them;  in  still  other  places  a  special 
court  was  created  for  their  control.  Where  a 
brothel  was  let  to  a  responsible  citizen,  he  was 

1  In  1367  two  quarters  were  set  apart  by  the  Parisian  authorities 
for  prostitution,  the  Glatigny  and  the  Hueleu.  Great  numbers  of 
thieves,  robbers,  and  vagabonds  flocked  together  in  these  quarters, 
making  of  them  veritable  strongholds,  whence  vice  and  crime  could 
raid  the  city  with  impunity.  The  police  were  defied  and  even  royal 
edicts  for  demolishing  the  places  were  for  decades  set  at  nought. — 
Carlier,  Les  Deux  Prostitutions,  11-13. 


Regulation — Ancient  and  Modern       19 

compelled  to  undertake  all  responsibility  for  the 
conduct  of  its  inmates. 

One  further  object  held  in  view  by  the  mediaeval 
legislator  was  the  organisation  of  prostitution  for 
fiscal  purposes.  As  possessors  of  a  lucrative  occu- 
pation, they  were  compelled  to  contribute  to  the 
public  treasury.  There  seems  to  have  been  no 
hesitancy  about  accepting  for  public  purposes  a 
part  of  the  earnings  of  shame.  Even  the  Church 
did  not  stick  at  such  revenues.1 

Mediaeval  regulations,  then,  possessed  generally 
these  three  aims :  prevention  of  vicious  conduct  on 
the  part  of  citizen  women,  collection  of  revenues 
from  prostitution,  and  preservation  of  public  order. 

As  in  the  case  of  classical  regulation,  aims  that 
were  possible  of  realisation  while  the  cities  were 
of  moderate  size  and  while  social  relations  were 
fixed,  were  not  capable  of  realisation  when  the 
old  order  broke  up  under  the  social  and  economic 
changes  at  the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Society 
as  a  whole  became  corrupt;  the  alien  character 
of  prostitution  disappeared.  Sumptuary  laws  were 
enacted,  because  it  was  thought  that  it  was  the 
jewelry  and  fine  clothing  of  the  prostitute  that 
attracted  decent  girls  and  women  into  the  life  of 
shame.  At  about  the  same  time  an  epidemic  of 
syphilis  spread  over  Europe,  assuming,  as  a  result 

1  Clement  VIII.  compelled  public  women  to  give  a  part  of  their 
earnings  to  the  Convent  of  St.  Mary  of  Penitence. — Tammeo,  La 
Prostituzione,  30. 


20  The  Social  Evil 

of  the  general  immorality,  the  proportions  of  a 
world  plague.  Under  the  influence  of  this  evil  the 
licensed  houses  of  prostitution  were  pretty  gener- 
ally closed  during  a  considerable  part  of  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries.  Re-opened  again, 
they  lived  by  the  strength  of  traditional  usage 
until  replaced  by  modern  regulation  of  prostitution, 
or,  as  it  is  generally  known,  reglementation. 

Modern  Regulation. — Modern  regulation  is  al- 
most wholly  distinct  from  that  of  mediaeval  and 
classical  times,  both  in  its  ends  and  in  the  means  it 
employs  to  secure  them.  The  mediaeval  city  strove 
to  insure  the  welfare  of  its  own  citizens;  it  cared 
nothing. for  the  moral  welfare  of  the  aliens  who  were 
the  victims  of  its  policy.  The  extension  of  the  unit 
of  society  from  the  single  city  to  the  nation,  from 
the  nation  to  the  civilised  world,  has  awakened  the 
public  conscience  to  the  fact  that  even  the  prostitute 
is  a  member  of  society.  Under  modern  conditions, 
it  is  inconceivable  that  a  political  body  should  aid 
in  the  securing  of  victims  for  vice,  even  if  it  were  still 
believed  that  the  existence  of  a  vicious  class  is  a  safe- 
guard for  the  virtuous ;  for  the  victims  must  neces- 
sarily be  recruited  from  orderly  society, — in  the  last 
instance,  from  the  ranks  of  the  virtuous.1 

1  Certain  authors  have  caught  at  the  idea  of  a  supposed  natural  class  of 
degenerate  women,  reversions  to  a  non-moral  type,  as  fitting  victims  for 
social  vice.  It  is  no  hardship,  they  claim,  that  such  creatures  should  be 
permitted  to  follow  their  own  natures.  This  is  evidently  an  attempt  to 
restore  the  alien  status  of  the  prostitute.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  point 
out  the  weakness  of  the  position. — See  Strohmberg,  op.  cit.,  passim. 


Regulation — Ancient  and  Modern       21 

Accordingly,  the  moral  point  of  view  has  changed 
completely.  Every  modern  system  of  regula- 
tion avows  the  purpose  of  preventing,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  degradation  of  those  who  are  not  yet 
depraved,  and  the  rescue  and  restoration  to  hon- 
ourable life  of  fallen  women  who  are  still  sus- 
ceptible to  moral  influences. 

But  the  chief  distinguishing  feature  of  modern 
regulation  is  its  endeavour  to  stamp  out  the 
diseases  that  everywhere  attend  vice.  Nothing 
analogous  to  this  aim  is  to  be  found  in  ancient  and 
mediaeval  regulation.1 

So  prominent  has  the  sanitary  aspect  of  the 
problem  of  vice  become  that  the  term  "regula- 
tion" is  used  generally  to  denote  sanitary  regula- 
tion alone. 

One  end  that  modern  regulation  has  in  common 
with  mediaeval  regulation  is  the  dissociation  of 
vice  from  crime.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  this  end 
was  partially  attained  by  fixing  responsibility 
not  upon  the  individual  prostitute,  but  upon 
individuals  or  groups  of  individuals  who  could 
not  so  easily  evade  the  law.  A  study  of  modern 
regulations  will  reveal  the  fact  that  not  dissimilar 
means  are  employed  for  the  same  end. 

1  Parent-Duchatelet  cites  regulations  of  Avignon  of  the  I4th  cen- 
tury, which  required  that  public  women  should  be  visited  weekly  by 
a  "barber."  The  regulations  in  question  are,  however,  undoubtedly 
spurious. 


CHAPTER  III 

REGULATION  OF  PROSTITUTION  IN  PARIS 

DURING  the  Middle  Ages,  prostitution  was 
tolerated  in  Paris  as  in  all  other  important  cities 
of  Central  Europe.  But  with  the  appearance  of 
the  epidemic  of  syphilis  toleration  ceased.  The 
victim  of  that  frightful  malady  fell  heir  to  all  the 
cruel  maltreatment  that  had  been  the  especial 
heritage  of  the  leper.  The  prostitute,  as  the  nat- 
ural medium  of  the  disease,  came  to  be  regarded 
with  horror  and  hatred  such  as  her  mere  moral 
delinquencies  have  hardly  ever  inspired.  The 
ancient  laws  making  prostitution  a  crime  were 
restored,  and  not  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  did  they  cease  to  be  enforced. 

For  a  long  time  after  the  policy  of  expelling 
the  male  syphilitic  from  society  had  given  way 
to  the  more  rational  policy  of  treating  him,  no 
provision  was  made  for  the  relief  of  unfortunate 
prostitutes  who  were  suffering  from  disease.  It 
was  only  accidentally  that  certain  features  were 
inserted  in  repressive  laws  which  pointed  toward 
a  system  of  sanitary  control.  As  late  as  1657 


22 


Regulation  of  Prostitution  in  Paris      23 

it  was  the  practice  to  exclude  infected  prostitutes 
from  the  Salpetriere,  where  the  women  charged 
with  prostitution  were  confined.  As  the  system 
of  inspection  was  imperfect,  many  who  were 
diseased  were  found  among  the  prisoners.  These 
were  treated  by  order  of  the  authorities  of  the 
prison,  although  this  was  strictly  contrary  to 
law.  An  edict  of  1684  recognised  the  necessity 
of  treating  the  diseased.  This  provision  is 
regarded  as  the  germ  of  the  French  sanitary 
control.1 

By  the  same  law,  the  lieutenant  of  police  was 
given  practically  unlimited  control  over  prosti- 
tutes. He  passed  sentence,  nor  was  there  any 
appeal  from  his  decision.  The  length  of  time 
during  which  the  prostitutes  were  imprisoned  lay 
in  his  sole  discretion.  The  determination  of  the 
criteria  whereby  a  woman  was  judged  guilty  of 
debauch  lay  also  in  his  province,  as  appears  from 
the  preamble  of  the  law  of  July  26,  1713.  It  is 
easy  to  see  in  this  the  germ  of  the  discretionary 
power  that  the  police  assume  in  dealing  with 
prostitutes.2 

For  the  rest,  an  effort  was  to  be  made  to  reform 
these  women.  They  were  to  attend  mass  and 
hear  prayers  read,  etc.  They  were  treated,  of 
course,  as  ordinary  criminals:  they  were  dressed 
in  prison  uniform  and  fed  on  prison  fare  and  were 

1  Parent-Duch&telet,  op.  cit.,  ii.,  5  et  seq. 

*  Lecour,  La  Prostitution  d  Paris  et  &  Londres,  407. 


24  The  Social  Evil 

compelled  to  perform  the  hardest  work  of  which 
they  were  capable. 

By  the  law  of  1713,  above  mentioned,  the 
determination  of  the  facts  of  prostitution  was 
left  to  the  royal  commissaries  or  judges  in  the 
several  quarters  of  the  city.  These  were  to  re- 
ceive as  proof  the  declarations  of  the  neighbours. 
The  pronouncing  of  sentence  and  the  discretion- 
ary power  as  to  its  severity  still  remained  with 
the  lieutenant  of  police.1 

Such  were  the  general  regulations  on  the  sub- 
ject of  prostitution  down  to  1768.  In  that  year 
a  royal  ordinance  decreed  that  prostitutes  found 
with  the  army  should  be  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned by  the  military  authorities  unless  they 
were  domiciled  in  the  vicinity.  In  that  case  they 
should  be  turned  over  to  the  civil  authorities  for 
imprisonment.  Before  being  imprisoned,  how- 
ever, they  were  to  be  treated  for  disease  if 
found  ill.2 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  regulations  of  1684, 
supplemented  by  the  ordinance  of  1768,  should 
become  in  effect  a  system  of  sanitary  control. 
The  treatment  previous  to  imprisonment  was 
compulsory;  the  punishment  lay  in  the  discretion 
of  the  lieutenant  of  police.  All  that  was  neces- 
sary was  to  make  periodical  arrests  with  com- 
pulsory treatment  and  to  discharge  those  who 
were  cured  without  imprisonment.  It  appears 

1  Lecour,  op.  cit.,  409,  410.  *  Ib.,  411. 


Regulation  of  Prostitution  in  Paris      25 

that  a  system  something  like  this  developed  to- 
ward the  end  of  the  ancien  regime* 

It  was  natural  that  the  need  for  a  system  of 
permanent  registration  should  arise.  The  first 
appearance  of  the  idea  of  registration  was  in  1765. 
A  police  officer  suggested  in  a  report  to  the  lieu- 
tenant of  police  that  the  existing  disorder  would 
be  greatly  diminished  if  all  public  women  were 
registered  by  the  police.  It  was  rather  with  the 
hope  of  securing  better  order  than  with  a  view 
to  sanitary  control  that  the  idea  was  then  put 
forward.  Some  years  later  another  memoir  em- 
phasised the  sanitary  bearing  of  registration. 
A  commission  was  appointed  to  examine  into 
the  matter,  but  it  pronounced  the  scheme  im- 
practicable.2 

At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI.  the  plan 
was  again  taken  up,  and  two  agents  were  ordered 
to  proceed  with  the  registration  of  prostitutes. 
The  Revolution,  however,  prevented  the  order 
from  being  carried  into  effect.  The  principles  of 
the  Revolution  were  too  uncompromising  to  per- 
mit of  a  policy  so  likely  to  infringe  upon  individual 
liberty. 

Not  until  1798  were  any  preventive  sanitary 
measures  taken.  In  that  year  a  private  physi- 
cian undertook,  under  administrative  patronage, 
the  work  of  examining  the  prostitutes  actively 

1  Carlier,  Les  Deux  Prostitutions,  17. 
*  Reuss,  La  Prostitution,  231  et  seq. 


26  The  Social  Evil 

engaged  in  their  occupation.  Apparently,  it  was 
the  understanding  that  he  should  communicate 
to  the  police  the  state  of  health  of  those  whom  he 
examined.1 

In  1802  the  prefecture  of  police  proceeded  to 
register  public  prostitutes  and  to  impose  upon 
them  the  obligation  of  submitting  to  fortnightly 
examination.  Hitherto  the  courts  had  decided 
whether  or  not  a  woman  was  guilty  of  professional 
debauch;  now  the  police  proceeded  to  establish 
the  facts  in  a  purely  administrative  way.  The 
ardour  for  personal  liberty  had  cooled  by  this  time 
so  that  no  difficulties  were  thrown  in  the  way  of 
the  carrying  out  of  the  plan  of  regulation.  In 
1805  a  dispensary  was  established  for  the  treat- 
ment of  the  diseased  prostitutes.  All  expenses 
were  to  be  met  by  fees  collected  by  the  physi- 
cians themselves.  This  system,  it  can  easily  be 
understood,  led  to  great  abuses.  The  examining 
physicians  took  care  to  make  their  fees  as  large 
as  possible.  Accordingly,  in  1810,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  make  a  change  in  this  respect. 
The  physicians  were  to  report  to  the  cashier 
of  the  administration  the  names,  addresses,  and 
the  state  of  health  of  the  women  examined. 
That  official  paid  the  physicians  and  became 
responsible  for  the  recovery  of  the  sums  from  the 
prostitutes.2 

By  the  second  decade  of  the  century  the  Parisian 

1  Lecour,  op.  cit.,  69.  a  Ibid.,  73. 


Regulation  of  Prostitution  in  Paris      27 

police  had  developed  a  plan  which  they  have  cher- 
ished ever  since — that  of  confining  prostitution 
to  houses  specially  licensed  for  that  purpose. 
The  difficulties  that  lay  in  the  way  of  controlling 
the  conduct  of  the  prostitute  by  dealing  with 
her  directly  were  found  to  be  almost  insuperable. 
The  keeper  of  a  brothel  or  a  house  of  accommoda- 
tion, however  low  he  may  be  morally,  has  never- 
theless a  property  stake  that  will  keep  him  within 
the  bounds  of  the  law.  Prostitutes  who  were 
living  in  isolated  quarters  were  ordered  to  betake 
themselves  directly  to  the  houses  of  accommoda- 
tion. Soliciting  upon  the  streets  was  forbidden 
again  and  again,  but  the  prohibition  was  not 
capable  of  enforcement. 

In  1828  the  tax  levied  upon  prostitutes  for 
meeting  the  expenses  of  sanitary  control  was 
abolished.  It  had  proven  burdensome  and  in- 
jurious. Half  the  time  of  the  special  agents  of 
the  Morals  Bureau  was  spent  in  hunting  up  pro- 
stitutes who  were  delinquent  in  their  payments. 
Moreover,  it  acted  as  a  deterrent  to  voluntary 
registration.1 

Up  to  1828  the  police  registered  as  a  licensed 
prostitute  any  woman  who  desired  it.  No  inquiries 
were  made  as  to  age,  civil  state,  or  antecedents. 
Young  girls  arrested  for  debauch  were  registered 
forthwith.  According  to  Parent- Duchatelet,  the 
register  of  public  women  contained  the  names  of 

1  Parent-Ducheitelet,  op.  cit,,  ii.,  224. 


28  The  Social  Evil 

girls  of  ten,  who  had,  of  course,  never  been  engaged 
in  vice.  Tn  1828  this  outrageous  policy  ceased.1 

In  1843  the  service  of  morals  was  reorganised. 
The  system  then  established  is  practically  the 
one  now  in  force.  It  has  also  served  as  a  model 
for  most  of  the  systems  of  Europe.  Prostitution 
is  tolerated  either  in  licensed  brothels  or  in  houses 
of  accommodation  where  prostitutes  at  large  are 
compelled  to  resort.  Weekly  examinations  are 
imposed  upon  the  inmates  of  brothels;  these  take 
place  in  the  licensed  houses.  The  prostitutes  at 
large  are  obliged  to  appear  once  in  two  weeks  at 
the  office  provided  by  the  police  for  that  purpose. 
Those  found  to  be  diseased  are  sent  to  the  hospital 
of  the  prison  of  St.  Lazare,  and  are  not  liberated 
until  cured. 

To  insure  a  certain  control  over  the  conduct 
of  these  women,  the  keeper  of  a  licensed  house 
(always  a  woman)  is  responsible  for  good  order 
in  her  establishment.  A  prostitute  who  lives  alone 
in  a  rented  apartment  must  own  the  furniture  of 
the  apartment,  so  that  it  will  not  be  easy  for  her 
to  disappear  in  case  she  has  violated  any  of  the 
regulations. 

Women  may  be  registered  as  prostitutes  either 
by  order  of  the  chief  of  the  Morals  Bureau  or 
at  their  own  request.  As  a  rule,  inscription  is 
voluntary.  Clandestine  prostitution  is  punished 
severely  enough  to  make  it  worth  while  for  the 

1  Carlier,  op.  tit.,  41. 


Regulation  of  Prostitution  in  Paris      29 

notoriously  debauched  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
toleration  offered  by  the  police. 

Originally,  little  attention  seems  to  have  been 
paid  to  the  checking  of  the  growth  of  vice.  But 
there  has  been  an  increasing  tendency  to  refuse 
the  registration  of  minors.  While  this  cannot 
be  done  in  every  case,  minors  are  registered  much 
less  frequently  now  than  formerly.  The  tenants 
of  licensed  houses  are  forbidden  to  admit  boys 
under,  eighteen,  or  students  of  the  various  higher 
schools.  Great  care  is  also  exercised  in  making 
it  easy  for  a  woman  who  desires  to  reform  to  do  so. 

The  control  of  prostitution  is  given  over  almost 
entirely  to  a  body  of  special  agents  who  form  a 
part  of  the  general  secret  service.  The  ordinary 
police  have  nothing  to  do  with  prostitution,  except 
in  case  of  gross  violation  of  public  decency  or 
public  order.  Between  forty  and  fifty  agents  are 
required  for  this  service.  They  must,  of  course, 
be  men  of  great  tact,  they  must  be  men  upon  whom 
reliance  may  be  placed,  since  any  mistake  they 
may  make  entails  the  most  serious  consequences. 

The  medical  service  consisted  in  1890  of  a  chief 
and  assistant-chief  surgeon,  fourteen  surgeons  in 
ordinary,  and  ten  adjunct  surgeons.  They  are 
assigned  to  various  quarters  of  the  city,  changing 
at  intervals  by  regular  rotation. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  the  student  of  the 
Parisian  system  is  the  weakness  of  its  legal  basis. 
Since  the  Revolution,  no  general  laws  on  the  sub- 


30  The  Social  Evil 

ject  of  prostitution  have  been  made.  The  Penal 
Code  does  not  touch  upon  it.  The  police  are 
therefore  compelled  to  go  back  to  the  ordinances 
of  1684,  1713,  1768,  and  1778  for  their  authority 
to  regulate  vice.  According  to  these  ordinances, 
prostitution  was  a  crime,  which  the  lieutenant 
of  police  could  punish  at  his  discretion.  Clan- 
destine prostitution  is  still  punished  according  to 
those  ordinances.1 

The  modern  police  are  not,  however,  the  suc- 
cessors to  the  powers  of  the  lieutenant  of  police 
under  the  ancien  regime.  The  lieutenant  of  police 
could  pass  sentence  if  his  royal  master  authorised 
him  to  do  so.  The  modern  police  commissary  has 
no  power  to  sentence  a  criminal;  yet  he  appears 
to  assume  such  an  authority  with  regard  to  the 
so-called  crime  of  debauch. 

Another  legal  prop  for  the  service  of  morals 
is  the  law  of  1789  constituting  the  municipalities. 
By  this  law,  the  municipalities  are  assured  the 
advantages  of  a  good  police  system.  The  exact 
powers  of  the  police  are  not  enumerated,  but  by 
a  law  of  1790  it  is  specified  that  the  police  are  to 
maintain  public  order  and  decency  and  to  protect 
public  health.  It  is  assumed  that  this  implies  a 
system  of  police  regulation  of  prostitution.2 

There  have  been  numerous  attempts  to  pass 
general  laws  with  regard  to  prostitution.  In 

1  Cj.  Rtglement  du  13  Novembre,  1843,  Sec.  7. 
'  Lecour,  op,  cit.,  29. 


Regulation  of  Prostitution  in  Paris      31 

1811  and  in  1816,  in  1819  and  in  1823,  eminent 
administrators,  lawyers,  and  statesmen  attempted 
to  formulate  special  laws  that  would  be  appro- 
priate to  so  delicate  a  subject.  The  task  had  to 
be  abandoned,  however.  It  was  impossible  to 
devise  a  law  at  once  efficient  and  just.  And  so 
the  police  have  continued  to  take  matters  into 
their  own  hands,  changing  their  regulations  from 
time  to  time  to  suit  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion. 
Doubtless  the  service  of  morals  has  gained  rather 
than  lost  by  the  flexibility  thus  attained.  But 
the  lack  of  any  other  than  a  fictitious  legal  basis 
has  always  been  a  point  of  attack  for  the  oppon- 
ents of  the  system.  While  some  of  the  supporters 
of  the  system  of  regulation  acquiesce  in  the  ab- 
sence of  general  laws,  believing  it  beneath  the 
dignity  of  the  State  to  notice  a  subject  which  is 
the  cause  of  so  many  cares  for  the  police,  the 
majority  would  look  with  favour  upon  any  meas- 
ure which  would  free  the  police  from  the  serious 
charge  of  illegal  usurpation  of  powers. 


CHAPTER  IV 

REGULATION     IN     BERLIN    AND     IN     OTHER     CITIES 
OF  EUROPE 

Berlin. — The  Reformation  and  the  great  social 
and  economic  movements  that  were  connected 
with  it  wrought  a  complete  change  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  city  of  Berlin.  From  a  conservative 
mediaeval  town,  in  which  every  person  had  his 
fixed  place,  it  had  become  a  large  and  wealthy 
city.  The  old  regulations  concerning  vice  had  been 
quite  outgrown.  Although  the  old  regulations, 
abolished  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  were 
restored  when  the  religious  ardour  had  cooled, 
prostitution  was  no  longer  easily  controlled  by 
them.  It  had  increased  greatly  in  volume  and  in 
complexity.  The  inference  of  contemporaries  was 
that  the  Reformation  had  thoroughly  ruined  the 
morals  of  society — an  inference  accepted  by  not 
a  few  modern  writers. 

In  1700  a  system  of  regulation  was  adopted 
which  contained  the  essential  features  of  mod- 
ern regulation.  As  one  would  expect,  much  was 
borrowed  from  the  Middle  Ages.  The  principle 

32 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  33 

of  dealing  with  groups  of  individuals  under  a 
responsible  head  appears  in  the  provision  which 
makes  the  keeper  of  the  brothel  responsible  for 
the  conduct  of  the  inmates  of  his  house.  If  any 
outrage  were  perpetrated,  such  as  assault  or  rob- 
bery, the  keeper  had  to  make  good  the  damage 
done.  If  a  woman,  known  to  be  diseased,  trans- 
mitted the  malady,  the  keeper  had  to  stand  the 
costs  of  treatment.  In  this  way  it  was  thought 
possible  to  restrain  effectively  all  tendency  toward 
disorder. 

For  the  sake  of  preserving  the  health  not  only 
of  the  prostitutes,  but  also  of  their  visitors,  an 
official  surgeon  was  to  examine  them  fortnightly. 
Those  who  were  found  to  be  diseased  were  to  be 
confined  to  their  rooms,  if  the  malady  were  slight ; 
if  it  were  grave,  they  were  to  be  sent  to  the 
Charity  Hospital.  This  feature  of  the  regulation 
is  of  course  distinctly  a  modern  innovation. 

Another  thing  that '  strikes  one  as  distinctly 
modern  is  the  declaration  that  prostitution  is  not 
permitted,  but  tolerated — a  bit  of  sophistry  which 
marks  a  distinct  advance  over  the  naive  view  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  Instead  of  the  mediaeval  tax 
upon  prostitutes  as  the  possessors  of  a  lucrative 
trade,  we  find  a  fee  of  two  groschen  for  medical 
examination.  This,  too,  is  modern.  It  shows 
that  even  then  there  was  a  feeling  that  it  was 
dishonourable  for  the  State  to  accept  the  earnings 
of  so  foul  a  trade,  excepting  for  the  expenditure  of 


34  The  Social  Evil 

regulating  the  trade.  One  thing  more  that  marks 
the  regulation  as  modern  is  the  provision  that,  if 
a  prostitute  wished  to  reform,  the  keeper  of  a 
brothel  could  not  detain  her,  even  though  she 
owed  him  a  debt.1 

This  regulation  remained  in  force  until  1792. 
With  the  growth  of  wealth  and  population,  vice 
had  increased  enormously.  In  1780  there  were  a 
hundred  houses  of  ill  fame,  with  seven  to  nine 
inmates  in  each.2  There  was,  besides,  a  class  of 
prostitutes  who  lived  in  rented  lodgings  and 
carried  on  their  profession  on  their  own  account. 
These  also  were  tolerated  by  the  police,  although 
the  regulation  of  1700  had  made  no  provision  for 
them.  Moreover,  clandestine  prostitution  throve, 
although  the  police  dealt  with  unlicensed  prosti- 
tutes in  summary  fashion,  arresting  them  and 
registering  them  without  formalities,  and  compel- 
ling them,  under  severe  penalties,  to  appear  for 
sanitary  examinations.  No  special  regard  was 
had  for  the  age  or  condition  of  those  thus  inscribed 
upon  the  register  of  infamy.  Many  of  them  were 
mere  children. 

In  1792  a  new  regulation  was  made.  This  was 
in  many  respects  a  mere  amplification  of  the 
regulation  of  1700.  Licensed  houses  of  prosti- 
tution were  tolerated,  as  were  also  prostitutes  at 
large.  This  was  strictly  contrary  to  the  General 

1  Behrend,  Die  Prostitution  in  Berlin,  20. 
*  Ibid.,  26. 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  35 

Code  (Allgemeines  Landrecht),  which  prohibited 
prostitution  excepting  in  licensed  houses.  No 
attention  was  paid  to  this  fact  at  the  time. 

The  principle  of  placing  the  prostitutes  under 
the  control  of  persons  who  could  be  responsible 
for  their  conduct  was  still  further  developed.  No 
one  could  open  a  brothel  without  first  receiving 
permission  from  the  police;  no  one  could  rent  a 
room  to  a  prostitute  without  permission.  As  in 
the  older  regulations,  the  tenant  of  the  licensed 
house  was  responsible  for  any  outrage  or  robbery 
committed  upon  his  premises.  Moreover,  he  was 
held  to  be  an  accomplice  until  he  proved  his  in- 
nocence. Even  if  it  could  be  proven  that  he  was 
no  partner  to  the  outrage,  he  was  subject  to  fine 
and  imprisonment  if  he  had  not  done  everything 
in  his  power  to  prevent  it.  Prostitutes  at  large 
were  compelled  to  live  in  certain  streets.  The 
person  who  let  lodgings  to  them  (always  an  elderly 
woman,  single,  widowed,  or  divorced)  had  to 
undertake  responsibilities  similar  to  those  of  the 
tenant  of  a  licensed  house. 

Much  greater  emphasis  was  laid  upon  the  sani- 
tary feature  of  regulation.  Any  person  who  should 
transmit  a  venereal  disease  was  to  stand  the  cost 
of  treatment  and  was  subject  to  imprisonment  for 
three  months.  While  this  provision  applied  to 
men  as  well  as  to  women,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  in 
practice  it  would  hardly  reach  any  one  except  the 
prostitute.  The  mistress  of  a  brothel  was  held 


36  The  Social  Evil 

jointly  responsible  with  the  inmate  for  any  dis- 
ease transmitted,  whether  she  knew  that  the 
disease  existed  or  not.  She  was  also  under  obli- 
gation to  report  at  once  any  case  of  disease  in 
her  house.  If  she  failed  to  do  so,  she  was  subject 
to  fine  and  imprisonment. 

The  main  sanitary  measure  was,  however,  the 
periodic  examinations  by  the  official  surgeons, 
These  took  place  weekly,  at  the  domicile  of  the 
prostitute.  Those  who  were  diseased  were  dis- 
posed of  as  in  the  older  regulation.  To  meet  the 
expenses  of  treatment,  a  contribution  was  laid 
upon  all  prostitutes.  As  this  proved  insufficient, 
a  tax  was  imposed  three  years  later  upon  the 
tenants  of  licensed  houses. 

Much  more  attention  than  formerly  was  paid 
to  the  moral  welfare  of  the  fallen  woman.  Tf 
she  wished  to  reform,  she  could  not  be  detained 
for  any  reason.  Minors  could  be  registered  only 
in  case  they  were  already  utterly  depraved.1 
Of  this  the  police  were  the  judges,  since  no  girl 
could  be  admitted  to  a  brothel  without  per- 
mission. Severe  penalties  were  enacted  against 
enticing  young  women  into  brothels. 

For  the  preservation  of  public  decency,  solicit- 
ing in  public  places  was  prohibited,  as  well  as 
indecent  proposals  from  windows  or  doors  of 
brothels.  The  brothel  tenant  or  the  woman  who 
had  let  a  room  to  a  prostitute  was  responsible  for 

1  The  age  of  majority  was  twenty-four. 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  37 

the  enforcement  of  this  regulation.  Moreover, 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  brothels  was 
prohibited,  and,  later,  dancing  and  games,  in 
order  to  prevent  vicious  resorts  from  becoming 
places  of  entertainment. ' 

No  provision  was  made  for  compulsory  regis- 
tration. But  the  clandestine  prostitute  was  pun- 
ished by  three  months'  imprisonment,  followed  by 
confinement  in  the  workhouse  until  she  should 
manifest  a  desire  to  enter  some  honourable  em- 
ployment, and  should  find  an  opportunity  to  do  so. 

This  regulation  remained  practically  unchanged 
until  1828.  It  was  not,  however,  enforced  with 
uniformity  from  year  to  year.  The  ideas  of  the 
French  Revolution  permeated  German  society 
to  a  certain  extent,  creating  a  feeling  that  it  was 
an  outrage  upon  justice  to  place  a  special  class  of 
human  beings  under  the  arbitrary  control  of  the 
police.  Moreover,  it  was  felt  that  the  intimate 
relations  of  the  State  with  vice,  which  a  system  of 
regulation  naturally  creates,  were  degrading.  Not 
only  did  this  feeling  exist  in  the  general  community, 
but  it  influenced  not  a  little  the  ministry  of  the 
realm.  Accordingly,  the  police  of  Berlin  were 
subjected  to  hostility  from  above  and  below.  In 
1810  the  ministry  absolutely  prohibited  the  regis- 
tration of  minors,  a  practice  in  which  the  police 
had  hitherto  persisted.  The  police  were  forbidden 
to  grant  permits  for  new  brothels.  They  were  to 

'Behrend,  op.  cit.,  29  et  seg. 


38  The  Social  Evil 

examine  closely  into  the  antecedents  of  a  woman 
who  proposed  to  enter  a  house  of  ill  fame,  and  to 
deter  her  from  her  purpose,  if  possible.  Against 
this  tendency  was  the  sentiment  of  the  army, 
which  has  generally  been  decidedly  in  favour  of  a 
system  of  tolerated  vice.  The  military  authori- 
ties at  Berlin  pleaded  for  the  removal  of  the  age 
limitation  imposed  upon  those  who  wished  to 
enter  the  ranks  of  registered  prostitutes.1 

After  the  "glorious  victory"  the  sentiment 
against  regulation  diminished.  In  1814  permis- 
sion was  granted  to  register  minors,  although  an 
attempt  was  first  to  be  made  to  induce  them  to 
reform,  and  the  consent  of  their  parents  was  to  be 
secured.  Permission  was  also  given  to  erect  a 
new  brothel  in  place  of  one  that  had  failed,  and 
to  transfer  the  ownership  of  brothels.  The 
consent  of  the  police  was  of  course  to  be  secured. 

In  1829  a  new  regulation  was  made,  with  the 
approval  of  the  ministry.  The  only  important 
change  was  the  increased  frequency  of  sanitary 
inspections.  According  to  the  new  regulation,they 
were  to  be  made  twice  a  week  instead  of  once. 

At  this  time  there  were  thirty-three  licensed 
houses  in  Berlin.  These  were  pretty  well  scat- 
tered throughout  the  city.  There  was  no  formal 
restriction  as  to  their  location,  excepting  that  they 
were  not  permitted  in  the  vicinity  of  churches 
and  schools,  or  on  crowded  thoroughfares.  A  con- 

1  Behrend,  op.  tit.,  90. 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  39 

siderable  number  of  them,  however,  were  grouped 
together  in  a  small  street,  an  der  Konigsmauer. 
This  street  had  from  a  very  early  date  been  noted 
as  a  haunt  of  vice. 

During  the  thirties,  citizens  who  possessed 
property  in  the  vicinity  of  brothels  began  to 
complain  to  the  police  and  the  ministry  of  the 
losses  they  suffered  in  consequence  of  the  presence 
of  vice,  and  to  petition  for  the  removal  of  the 
licensed  houses.  The  police  authorities  paid  no 
attention  to  the  petitions,  but  in  1839  the  ministry, 
again  hostile  to  police  regulation,  ordered  the 
removal  of  all  such  houses  to  the  street  an  der 
Konigsmauer.  Accordingly,  all  were  removed 
thither  except  two.  Five  failed,  leaving  twenty- 
six  licensed  houses  in  a  street  containing  only 
fifty- two  small  houses.  The  street  may  fairly 
be  said  to  have  been  abandoned  utterly  to  vice, 
since  its  remaining  inhabitants  were  largely  pan- 
ders and  procurers,  together  with  the  workers 
and  small  traders  who  depended  for  support  upon 
the  custom  of  the  brothels. 

This  measure  was,  however,  very  far  from  being 
satisfactory.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  exist- 
ence of  isolated  brothels  in  various  parts  of  the 
city  was  as  demoralising  as  the  existence  of  a 
limited  quarter  in  which  vice  ran  riot.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  demoralising  effect  upon 
respectable  society  of  a  number  of  prostitutes 
mingling  with  it,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 


40  The  Social  Evil 

respectable  surroundings  have  far  more  power 
than  police  regulations  to  keep  the  wanton  woman 
from  displaying  the  actual  degradation  of  her 
character.  In  a  limited  community  consisting 
wholly  of  immoral  characters,  in  which  respectable 
persons  normally  appear  only  in  moments  of 
immorality,  this  restraining  influence  is  absent. 
An  esprit  de  corps  is  created  which  is  highly  in- 
jurious to  public  morals  and  public  order.1  Fur- 
thermore, the  existence  of  licensed  houses  side  by 
side  almost  inevitably  leads  to  an  odious  com- 
petition in  indecency  for  the  sake  of  attracting 
customers. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  sanitary  regulation, 
the  plan  was  not  successful.  While  the  notoriety 
of  the  quarter  naturally  attracted  the  youthful 
and  the  reckless,  the  bands  of  students  and  appren- 
tices, the  strangers  bent  upon  novelty,  the  publicity 
of  it  deterred  those  who  had  acquired  caution 
without  acquiring  continence, — the  greatest  re- 
source of  prostitution.  Hence  clandestine  pro- 
stitution increased  throughout  the  city.2 

A  further  result  of  the  grouping  of  licensed 
houses  was  increased  opposition  toward  any  sys- 
tem of  regulation  whatever.  The  agglomeration 
upon  one  spot  of  so  much  vice  opened  the  eyes 


1  Behrend,  op.  tit.,  114  et  seq. 

1  This  does  not  mean  that  prostitution  in  general  increased.  It 
merely  means  that  the  relative  proportion  of  those  who  would  submit 
to  regulation  declined. 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  41 

of  the  better  classes  to  the  extent  of  the  evil. 
Accounts,  exaggerated  beyond  all  semblance  of 
truth,  recalled  the  orgies  of  declining  Rome. 
The  abolition  sentiment  again  gained  credit  with 
the  higher  authorities,  and  in  1843  the  ministry 
issued  an  order  that  one  half  of  the  brothels  an 
der  Konigsmauer  should  be  removed  beyond  the 
Stadtmauer.  All  were  to  be  subjected  to  close 
surveillance,  and  for  three  violations  of  the  regu- 
lations, whether  great  or  small,  they  were  to  be 
closed,  nor  were  others  to  be  opened  in  their 
place.  The  first  part  of  the  order  was  not  carried 
out,  as  the  police  declared  that  it  was  impossible 
to  find  a  locality  which  would  receive  the  removed 
houses.  Opportunity  was  not  given  for  carrying 
the  second  part  of  the  order  into  effect,  as  an  order 
of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  issued  in  1844, 
fixed  January  i,  1846,  as  the  date  for  the  closing 
of  all  the  brothels  in  Berlin.  This  order  was 
duly  executed. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  let-alone  policy 
was  adopted.  The  police  were  ordered  to  take 
all  needful  measures  for  public  safety  and  public 
health.  Prostitutes  were  still  compelled  to  submit 
to  weekly  medical  inspections.  A  register  was 
kept  showing  the  state  of  health  of  the  women,  but 
no  control-book  was  given  them,  and  it  was  to 
be  impressed  upon  them  that  they  were  not 
licensed,  but  merely  tolerated.  Clandestine  pro- 
stitution was  still  subject  to  severe  punishment. 


42  The  Social  Evil 

Doubtless  the  police  enforced  the  changed  regu- 
lations with  no  very  great  enthusiasm;  but,  so 
far  as  the  formal  regulations  were  concerned,  the 
only  change  was  the  abolition  of  the  brothel  and 
its  replacement  by  tolerated  prostitution  at  large. 
There  is  no  ground  whatever  for  the  notion  that 
all  sanitary  control  was  abandoned  in  1846. 

At  the  instigation  of  the  military  authorities, 
the  licensed  houses  were  opened  again  in  1851. 
The  Penal  Code  of  1850  imposed  the  penalty 
fixed  for  procuring  upon  any  one  who  should  act 
as  a  mediator  for  professional  vice  or  lend  his  aid 
to  vicious  practices.1 

Another  section,  however,  implied  the  right 
on  the  part  of  the  police  to  make  needful  regu- 
lations for  the  preservation  of  public  health  and 
public  order.2 

It  was  upon  the  latter  section  that  the  police 
based  the  right  of  reopening  the  brothels.  In 
1856,  however,  a  decision  of  the  Obertribunal  of 
Prussia  pronounced  the  brothel  an  illegal  insti- 
tution, whereupon  the  licensed  houses  of  Berlin 
were  definitely  closed.3 

The  " service  of  morals"  as  reorganised  in  1850 
and  again  in  1876  did  not  differ  essentially  from 
the  system  now  in  force.  We  may  accordingly 
pass  at  once  to  the  existing  regulations.  The 

1  Sec.  146.  3  Sec.  147. 

JBlaschko,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enqu&tes, 
i.,  662. 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  43 

sanitary  feature  is  paramount.  The  registration 
of  prostitutes  is  merely  auxiliary  to  sanitary 
control,  since  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  reg- 
ister the  women  of  loose  life  if  they  are  to  be 
subjected  to  periodical  examination.  A  woman 
may  be  registered  either  at  her  own  request  or  by 
the  order  of  the  chief  of  the  police  bureau.  The 
police  arrest  any  woman  whom  they  have  reason 
to  suspect  of  clandestine  prostitution.  The  grounds 
of  such  arrest  may  be  direct  observation  by  the 
special  police  agents  of  the  service  of  morals,  the 
denunciation  of  private  persons,  of  registered 
prostitutes,  or  of  men  who  believe  themselves 
to  be  contaminated  by  the  woman  in  question. 
When  arrested,  she  is  subjected  to  a  physical  ex- 
amination, and  if  found  to  be  diseased  the  police 
assume  the  power  to  place  her  upon  the  register. 
If  she  is  not  diseased,  she  receives  a  "kindly 
warning."  In  the  warning-formula,  especial 
emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  fact  that  a  second 
arrest  would  mean  compulsory  registration. 
It  is  assumed  that  if  a  mistake  has  been 
made  in  the  first  arrest,  the  woman  arrested 
will  take  such  pains  to  avoid  further  suspicion 
that  a  second  mistake  would  be  practically 
impossible. 

Once  registered,  prostitutes  are  required  to 
report  every  week  at  the  public  dispensary  for 
sanitary  examination.  Failure  to  do  so  is  pun- 
ishable by  imprisonment,  the  maximum  sentence 


44  The  Social  Evil 

being  six  weeks.  Examinations  and  treatment 
are  gratuitous. 

Every  registered  prostitute  must  give  satis- 
factory information  as  to  age  and  antecedents. 
Minors  are  not,  as  a  rule,  permitted  to  register. 

There  are,  of  course,  numerous  detailed  regula- 
tions with  regard  to  the  localities  where  prostitutes 
may  not  appear,  and  with  regard  to  the  manner 
in  which  they  must  deport  themselves.  These 
it  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  here. 

Comparison  of  Reglementation  Systems  of  Paris 
and  Berlin. — If  we  compare  the  systems  of  Paris 
and  of  Berlin,  we  find  that  they  do  not  differ 
greatly  in  essence.  In  both  of  them  prostitutes 
are  treated  as  a  special  class,  bearing  a  relation 
to  the  common  law  essentially  different  from 
that  of  other  members  of  society.  A  renowned 
French  lawyer  has  clearly  defined  this  point 
of  view  by  declaring  that  prostitution  is  a 
status  in  the  same  sense  that  the  army  is  a 
status,  and,  just  as  is  the  case  with  the  army, 
prostitutes  may  be  subjected  to  regulations  that 
would  be  tyrannical  if  applied  to  the  ordinary 
citizen. x 

In  Berlin  this  manner  of  regarding  prostitu- 
tion has  been  handed  down  from  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  may  be  considered  a  survival  of  a  social 
system  in  which  any  body  of  individuals  could 
be  treated  as  a  special  status.  In  Paris  it  has 

1  M.  Dupin,  cited  by  Lecour,  op.  tit.,  41. 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  45 

rather  grown  up  as  a  result  of  the  exigencies  of 
police  administration. 

In  both  cities  the  need  is  recognised  of  a  special 
body  of  police,  acting  with  large  discretionary 
powers.  In  both  cities  the  sanitary  features  of 
control  are  paramount;  nevertheless,  public  order, 
decency,  and  morals  receive  a  certain  attention. 
The  Berlin  authorities  act,  perhaps,  with  greater 
freedom  in  imposing  registration  upon  prostitutes 
who  will  not  submit  to  it  voluntarily.  This  is 
probably  owing  to  the  greater  legal  authority 
which  the  Berlin  police  possess. 

Much  regard  has  usually  been  paid  to  the  fact 
that  in  Paris  it  is  the  policy  of  the  police  to  con- 
fine prostitution  to  licensed  houses,  while  in  Berlin 
the  brothel  is  absolutely  prohibited.  How  un- 
important this  feature  is  may  be  understood  from 
the  fact  that  not  one  tenth  of  the  registered  pro- 
stitutes of  Paris  live  in  licensed  houses.1  In 
practice,  the  administrations  of  the  two  cities  have 
exactly  the  same  problem  to  deal  with. 

There  are,  of  course,  innumerable  minor  regu- 
lations that  show  certain  differences  in  policy. 
These,  however,  are  of  small  interest  to  any  one 
except  the  officials  who  have  to  administer  the 
systems. 

Finally,    the   sanitary   service   does   not   differ 

1  In  1897,  out  of  about  6000  registered  prostitutes  only  490  lived  in 
licensed  houses. — Dr.  Ozenne,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels, 
1899;  Enqudtes,  i.,  146. 


46  The  Social  Evil 

in  essence.  It  is  true  that  all  examinations  in 
Berlin  are  held  in  public  offices  designed  for  that 
purpose,  while  in  Paris  those  who  live  in  licensed 
houses  are  examined  at  their  domicile.  This  differ- 
ence is  of  small  significance,  since  the  proportion 
of  brothel  inmates  is  so  insignificant.  In  Berlin 
examinations  are  weekly,  in  Paris  fortnightly. 
Examination  and  treatment  are  gratuitous  in 
both  cities. 

Regulation  in  Other  European  Cities. — A  study 
of  the  evolution  of  regulation  in  other  European 
cities  would  reveal  but  few  new  features.  Regu- 
lation has  in  general  grown  out  of  repressive 
legislation.  Inability  to  enforce  stringent  meas- 
ures against  vice  has  generally  given  the  policy  of 
the  police  an  arbitrary  character  that  was  easily 
changed  into  discretionary  power.  Sanitary  fea- 
tures have  been  grafted  upon  systems  of  tacit  tol- 
eration. As  a  rule,  Paris  and  Berlin  have  served 
as  models  in  this  respect.  Later  systems,  as  the 
regulations  of  Italy,  were  modelled  after  that  of 
Brussels,  which  in  turn  is  in  essence  a  copy  of  the 
Parisian  system. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  worth  while  to  touch  upon 
a  few  of  the  peculiar  features  to  be  found  in  some 
of  the  other  cities  of  Europe.  Thus  we  find  in 
Bremen  the  plan  of  confining  prostitution  to  a 
single  small  street,  which  is  so  situated  as  to  be 
easily  controlled  by  the  police.  Prostitutes  found 
elsewhere  are  arrested  and  punished  by  imprison- 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  47 

ment.  This  plan  has  been  partially  adopted  by 
several  other  of  the  smaller  German  cities.  A 
similar  policy  is  pursued  in  some  of  the  smaller 
French  cities. 

No  very  large  city  has  adopted  such  a  policy. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  enormous  proportions 
such  a  quarter  would  assume  in  a  city  like  Paris 
or  Berlin  would  be  a  menace  to  good  order  and  a 
centre  of  demoralisation.  Where  special  quarters 
exist,  it  would  seem  that  the  interest  of  property 
owners  in  the  vicinity  of  licensed  houses,  rather 
than  a  consideration  of  the  moral  interests  of  the 
community  as  a  whole,  was  responsible  for  their 
creation. 

In  a  large  number  of  the  cities  of  France,  the 
police  persist  in  attempting  to  confine  prostitu- 
tion to  licensed  houses.  In  some  cities  their 
efforts  are  not  wholly  unsuccessful.  Thus  in 
Marseilles  the  licensed  houses  hold  their  own. 
In  other  cities  these  houses  are  constantly  declin- 
ing. These  differences  are  to  be  explained  by  the 
character  of  the  clientage  of  prostitution.  Where 
strangers  are  numerous,  where  sailors  are  accus- 
tomed to  land,  the  licensed  house  thrives.  It  is 
the  "law  of  supply  and  demand"  that  decides 
whether  the  efforts  of  the  police  can  be  fruitful 
or  not. 

Vienna  presents  several  peculiarities  in  the 
system  of  regulation  of  vice.  The  Morals  police 
and  the  Sanitary  police  are  under  different  au- 


48  The  Social  Evil 

thorities.  The  supervision  of  public  morals  falls 
in  the  province  of  the  Imperial  police,  while  for 
the  sanitary  control  the  municipal  authorities  are 
responsible.  As  a  consequence,  there  is  a  lack  of 
harmony,  the  Sanitary  police  attempting  to  in- 
crease as  far  as  possible  the  number  of  public 
prostitutes,  the  Morals  police  attempting  to  limit 
it.  Examinations  of  licensed  women  are  made 
by  ordinary  physicians,  designated  by  the  police. 
They  are  made  either  at  the  domicile  of  the  phy- 
sician or  at  that  of  the  woman.  They  are  thus 
designed  to  give  as  little  publicity  to  the  activities 
of  police  control  as  circumstances  allow. 

Extent  of  Regulation. — Regulation  of  vice  is 
still  properly  in  the  experimental  stage.  Many 
believe,  it  is  true,  that  its  salutary  effects  are  not 
to  be  challenged ;  others  affirm  that  no  such  effects 
are  to  be  found.  It  is  accordingly  necessary,  as 
preliminary  to  examining  the  evidence  as  to  the 
efficacy  of  regulation,  to  consider  the  extent  of 
existing  regulations. 

In  the  first  place,  practically  all  the  cities  and 
large  towns  of  France  have  systems  of  regulation 
much  like  that  of  Paris.  So  also  have  the  cities 
of  Belgium.  German  cities,  as  a  rule,  regulate 
vice.  Hungary  has  what  is  considered  an  effi- 
cient system;  Austrian  cities  regulate  vice,  but  in 
no  very  efficient  way.  For  the  last  half -century, 
Russian  cities  have  persistently  striven  to  keep 
prostitution  under  sanitary  control.  From  the 


Berlin  and  Other  Cities  49 

time  of  the  union  of  Italy  down  to  1888,  the  larger 
Italian  cities  had  a  system  of  regulation  modelled 
after  that  of  Brussels.  The  Scandinavian  states, 
with  the  exception  of  Norway,  regulate  vice  in 
their  largest  cities;  so  also  do  Spain  and  Portugal. 
From  1866  until  1883,  England  tried  the  experi- 
ment of  regulation  in  twelve  districts  in  England 
and  two  in  Ireland.  In  these  stations  prostitutes 
were  registered  and  subjected  to  periodic  sanitary 
inspection,  and  if  diseased  were  detained  in  lock- 
hospitals  until  cured. 

Outside  of  Europe  similar  regulations  have 
been  put  in  force.  The  most  notorious  were  the 
regulations  in  India  during  the  time  of  the  Con- 
tagious Diseases  Acts.  Hong  Kong  also  presented 
a  system  of  regulation.  In  Japan  prostitutes  are 
confined  to  special  quarters  and  are  subjected 
to  periodic  examinations.  Finally,  mention  may 
be  made  of  the  one  experiment  in  our  own  country, 
in  St.  Louis,  1870-1873. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  SANITARY  ASPECT  OF  MODERN  REGULATION 

THE  effect  of  vice  upon  the  physical  health  of 
the  community  is  receiving  at  present  more  atten- 
tion than  any  other  feature  of  the  problem.  Regle- 
mentists  and  abolitionists  alike  test  their  systems 
by  the  effect  upon  venereal  disease.  Nothing 
could  be  more  natural,  since  it  has  at  last  become 
clear  to  almost  every  one  that  venereal  diseases 
are  frightfully  common  in  every  civilised  country. 
Moreover,  recent  progress  in  medical  science  has 
demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  diseases  that  have 
long  been  known  to  be  the  immediate  effects  of 
vice  by  no  means  make  up  the  sum  of  the  cost  in 
health  that  results  from  it.  Many  constitutional 
maladies  that  were  formerly  ascribed  to  entirely 
different  causes  have  recently  been  shown  to  be  of 
venereal  origin. 

Unfortunately,  it  is  impossible  to  form  even 
an  approximately  correct  idea  of  the  actual  extent 
of  the  ravages  of  venereal  disease.  One  medical 
congress  after  another  has  urged  the  necessity 
of  adequate  statistics  of  venereal  disease;  but 

so 


Sanitary  Aspect  of  Modern  Regulation    51 

up  to  the  present  very  little  has  been  accom- 
plished in  this  direction.  In  Norway  alone  are 
private  physicians  required  by  law  to  furnish 
reports  of  the  cases  treated  by  them.  Every- 
where else  it  is  necessary  to  deduce  the  facts  in 
question  from  the  statistics  of  limited  classes, 
such  as  the  army  and  the  navy,  to  piece  together 
hospital  records,  or  to  depend  upon  the  estimates 
of  individual  physicians.1 

We  may  take  as  a  starting-point  the  Norwe- 
gian statistics,  since,  with  all  their  imperfections, 
they  are  the  most  complete  in  existence. 

In  Christiania,  a  city  of  over  two  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants,  during  the  period  from  1879 
to  1898,  the  yearly  number  of  cases  of  venereal 
diseases  of  all  kinds  reported  have  ranged  gener- 
ally between  ten  and  fifteen  per  thousand  of  popu- 
lation. The  minimum  was  5.7  in  1888;  the 
maximum  was  20.7  in  1882.  Of  these,  about  two 
fifths  are  cases  of  gonorrhoea;  rather  more  than 
three  tenths  are  cases  of  syphilis. 

For  the  whole  of  Norway  during  the  same  period, 
the  number  of  cases  of  venereal  disease  has  varied 
from  2.14  per  thousand  in  1889  to  3.55  in  i882.2 

1  The  Medical  Department  of  Prussia  has  within  the  last  year  un- 
dertaken to  secure  statistics  of  venereal  disease  in  the  State  of  Prussia. 
A  circular  was  issued  by  the  Minister,  April  30,  1901,  requesting  all 
physicians  to  report  all  cases  treated  by  them  during  the  current  year. — 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Internationale  de  Prophylaxie  Sanitaire  et  Morale, 
Tome  i.,  No.  3. 

2  Hoist,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enqiietes,  i.,  126. 


52  The  Social  Evil 

These  figures  are  unquestionably  too  low.  Many 
cases  of  disease  are  naturally  treated  by  quacks, 
or  by  the  patients  themselves  according  to  recipes 
borrowed  from  comrades.  Again,  although  there 
is  a  law  compelling  every  physician  to  report  all 
cases,  it  is  impossible  to  enforce  such  a  law.  The 
only  motive  that  would  induce  a  physician  to 
comply  with  the  law  is  scientific  interest. 

While  cases  of  hereditary  syphilis  are  reported, 
it  is  obvious  that  many  will  escape  through  in- 
sufficient scientific  knowledge  on  the  part  of 
practising  physicians.  Finally,  there  is  no  place 
for  the  legacy  of  criminality,  idiocy,  and  other 
forms  of  degeneracy  that  venereal  disease  entails 
upon  society. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  persons  dis- 
eased may  be  treated  for  several  maladies  during 
the  same  year,  or  for  different  phases  of  the  same 
disease.  Especially  would  this  be  true  of  prosti- 
tutes, who  are,  of  course,  included  in  the  population 
at  large.  This  would  tend  to  make  the  number 
of  venereally  diseased  seem  greater  than  it  actually 
is.  Sufferers  from  such  diseases  are  very  apt  to 
change  their  physicians;  and  this  also  would  tend 
to  make  the  figures  too  large. 

Accordingly,  these  statistics  can  be  considered 
as  an  indication  only  of  the  actual  extent  of  dis- 
ease. Nevertheless,  it  seems  true  that  by  far  the 
greater  proportion  of  the  ills  resulting  from  vice 
are  recognisable  by  competent  physicians.  Chris- 


Sanitary  Aspect  of  Modern  Regulation    53 

tiania  is  a  city  in  which,  for  half  a  century,  much 
attention  has  been  given  to  combating  venereal 
disease.  It  may  be  assumed,  then,  that  its  physi- 
cians will  generally  have  interest  enough  to  report 
cases  of  disease  according  to  law. 

Where  military  service  is  compulsory,  the  state  of 
health  of  the  army  will  show  something  as  to  the  ex- 
tent of  disease  in  population,  since  every  able-bodied 
adult  male  must  serve.  The  following  table  will  show 
the  extent  of  venereal  diseases  in  various  European 
armies1: 


German 

French 

Austrian 

Italian 

per  1000 

per  1000 

per  1000 

per  1000 

i  88  1-86 

35-1 

58.2 

73-6 

102.9 

1886-91 

27.1 

51.1 

65-3 

94-3 

1891-96 

29.1 

56-7 

61.0 

84.9 

As  data  for  estimating  the  general  prevalence 
of  disease,  these  figures  are,  of  course,  to  be  used 
with  a  good  deal  of  caution.  The  pay  of  the 
soldiers,  the  character  of  the  discipline,  the  location 
of  the  barracks,  and  a  number  of  other  considera- 
tions must  be  allowed  for  before  one  can  venture 
to  affirm  that  venereal  diseases  are  more  common 
in  Italy  than  in  Germany.  It  is  to  be  expected 
that  disease  will  be  much  more  frequent  among 
soldiers  than  among  citizens,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
the  soldiers  are  young  and  unmarried,  free  from 
arduous  exertion,  and  exposed  to  the  demoralising 
influences  that  always  pervade  military  bodies. 

'Blaschko,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enguitestl.,  68 1. 


54  The  Social  Evil 

When  an  army  consists  of  volunteers,  as  the 
British  army,  statistics  of  venereal  disease  cease 
to  have  any  value  as  an  indication  of  the  general 
state  of  health.  It  is  not  the  typical  British 
citizen  who  enlists  in  time  of  peace. 

Where  large  standing  armies  do  not  exist,  it 
is  necessary  to  rely  upon  the  records  of  hospitals 
and  the  estimates  of  physicians.  The  records  of 
hospitals  are  worth  little,  as  but  a  fraction  of  the 
diseased  ever  apply  for  admission.  The  estimates 
of  physicians  are  of  course  mere  guesses,  most 
often  evolved  in  the  heat  of  argument,  and  hence 
worth  practically  nothing. 

But  however  imperfect  the  data  for  estimating 
the  true  extent  of  the  evil  may  be,  they  are  suffi- 
cient to  justify  the  opinion  that  venereal  disease 
is  one  of  the  most  serious  that  menace  public 
health,  and  that  no  less  energetic  measures  should 
be  taken  to  stamp  it  out  than  are  employed  to 
check  the  ravages  of  other  serious  contagious 
diseases.  Even  if  the  shame  and  suffering  which 
these  maladies  cause  the  individual  are  left  out 
of  account,  there  is  no  question  that  the  burden 
which  they  impose  upon  society  at  large  is  a  heavy 
one.  Even  if  they  do  not  utterly  wreck  the 
health  of  the  individual,  they  impair  his  industrial 
efficiency  and  increase  the  chance  of  his  becoming 
a  burden  upon  society.  In  the  long  contest  for 
survival  among  different  nations,  a  high  percen- 
tage of  venereal  diseases  is  a  most  serious  handicap 


Sanitary  Aspect  of  Modern  Regulation    55 

for  any  country.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  community 
to  do  everything  in  its  power  to  disembarrass 
itself  of  them. 

But  the  question  whether  society  owes  it  to 
the  individual  to  protect  him  from  venereal  in- 
fection has  long  been  a  subject  of  bitter  contro- 
versy. It  is  a  common  idea  that,  since  such 
maladies  are  generally  the  result  of  immoral  acts, 
the  persons  infected  receive  merely  their  due. 
They  have  knowingly  exposed  themselves  to  the 
danger;  they  have  violated  social  laws  in  order 
to  do  so;  let  them  take  the  consequences. 

Another  view,  one  which  bears  the  stamp  of 
modern  evolutionary  science,  recognises  the  fact 
that  there  are  individuals  so  constituted  as  to  be 
unable  to  control  their  animal  instincts.  These 
are,  as  it  were,  fatally  devoted  to  expose  them- 
selves to  contagion.  There  can  be  no  talk  of 
free  moral  agency  on  the  part  of  such  persons; 
one  cannot  regard  the  misfortune  that  befalls 
them  as  a  punishment  for  their  acts.  Such  persons 
are,  however,  unfit  members  of  civilised  society, 
and  venereal  disease  merely  acts  to  free  society 
from  their  presence. 

The  latter  view  is  the  more  easily  disposed  of. 
It  is  not  merely  the  incompetent,  the  degenerate, 
the  brutal,  that  fall  victims  to  the  scourge  of 
syphilis.  The  upper  classes  and  the  lower  suffer 
alike.  In  Russian  cities,  it  is  said  to  be  the 
very  flower  of  the  youth,  the  young  men  in  the 


56  The  Social  Evil 

universities,  who  are  most  frequently  diseased. 
Similar  observations  have  been  made  with  regard 
to  other  European  countries.  Doubtless  there  is 
some  exaggeration  in  such  statements  as  these. 
But  any  practising  physician  will  bear  witness 
to  the  fact  that  among  his  patients  the  "unfit" 
form  no  inconsiderable  fraction. 

The  other  view  deserves  more  extended  con- 
sideration. It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that,  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases,  venereal  disease  is  con- 
tracted as  the  result  of  a  voluntary  act, — an  act 
known  by  every  one  to  be  immoral.  It  is  only 
natural  to  regard  disease  as  a  penalty  for  vicious 
conduct.  In  this  respect  there  is  certainly  a 
valid  distinction  between  venereal  diseases  on  the 
one  hand  and  all  other  contagious  or  infectious 
diseases  on  the  other.  An  individual  has  a  right 
to  demand  all  possible  protection  from  evils  which 
he  cannot  avoid;  his  right  to  protection  from 
dangers  which  he  voluntarily  encounters  is  not 
so  clear. 

Yet  it  is  easy  to  carry  the  principle  of  personal 
responsibility  for  voluntary  acts  to  an  unwar- 
ranted extreme.  The  boy  who  yields  to  immoral 
impulses  does  not  deserve  the  same  penalty  that 
falls  upon  the  man  of  matured  intelligence  who 
lapses  from  virtue.  The  influence  of  the  envi- 
ronment must  be  taken  into  account  in  judging 
the  degree  of  personal  responsibility.  Now,  it 
is  well  known  that  venereal  disease  is  frequently 


Sanitary  Aspect  of  Modern  Regulation    57 

contracted  at  a  very  early  age.  A  considerable 
portion  of  the  syphilitics  treated  in  hospitals  are 
boys  still  in  their  teens.  Probably  a  majority  of 
all  sufferers  from  syphilis  are  infected  before  the 
twenty-sixth  year.1 

The  penalty  of  disease,  then,  falls  most  heavily 
upon  those  who  are  least  responsible  for  their 
acts.  Accordingly,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  many 
thinkers  who  are  not  in  the  least  inclined  to  con- 
done immorality  look  upon  sanitary  control  of 
vice  as  of  paramount  importance.  So  long  as 
society  permits  men  to  grow  up  in  an  environment 
inimical  to  virtue,  they  argue,  it  is  idle  to  hold 
them  strictly  accountable  for  their  conduct,  and 
inhuman  to  permit  them  to  suffer  from  diseases 
which  might  be  prevented  by  systematic  sanitary 
regulation. 

There  is  one  further  fact  which  would  seem  to 
condemn  the  public  policy  of  ignoring  venereal 
diseases.  Great  numbers  of  people  suffer  from 
them  by  no  moral  fault  of  their  own.  It  is, 
perhaps,  not  as  well  known  as  it  should  be,  that 
men  frequently  transmit  to  their  wives  diseases 
contracted  in  their  youth  and  folly,  of  which  they 
believed  themselves  to  be  quite  cured.  It  requires 
much  moral  cold-bloodedness  to  take  the  stand 


1  Of  10,000  syphilitics  who  came  under  the  observation  of  Professor 
Fournier,  817  had  been  infected  before  the  twentieth  year,  and  5130 
between  twenty-one  and  twenty-six. — Conference  Internationale,  Brus- 
sels, 1899;  Rapports  Preliminaires,  41. 


58  The  Social  Evil 

that  this  is  merely  a  matter  between  husband 
and  wife,  with  which  society  has  nothing  to  do.1 

Account  must  also  be  taken  of  the  children 
brought  into  the  world  with  the  curse  of  hideous 
disease  upon  them ;  of  the  nurse  contaminated  by 
the  child  she  nurtures ;  of  the  child  diseased  through 
its  nurse;  and  of  the  numbers  of  persons  who  are 
infected  by  accidental  contact.2 

1  Professor  Fournier  found  that  of  one  hundred  women  infected 
with  syphilis,  twenty  had  been  contaminated  by  their  husbands. — 
Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports  Preliminaires, 
i.,  13.  See  also  Flesch,  Prostitution  und  Frauenkrankheiten. 

3  In  some  places,  syphilitic  disease  is  regularly  contracted  in  such 
ways.  According  to  the  data  at  hand,  as  much  as  80  per  cent,  of  the 
syphilis  among  the  Russian  rural  population  is  contracted  thus.  Even 
in  the  city  population,  extra-genital  infection  is  responsible  for  from 
1.5  to  3  per  cent.  This  does  not  include  hereditary  syphilis. — O.  V. 
Petersen,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enqu&tes,  i.,  264. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  MORAL  ASPECT  OF  REGULATION 

THE  prominence  given  in  recent  discussion  to 
the  sanitary  evils  that  result  from  unchecked 
and  unregulated  prostitution  has  obscured,  to 
a  certain  extent,  the  fact  that  there  are  greater 
evils  than  physical  disease  connected  with  vice. 
One  who  subscribes  to  the  dictum,  "Disease  is  a 
great  evil,  but  vice  is  a  greater, "  is  almost  certain 
to  be  subjected  to  the  scorn  of  many  practical 
men.  Yet,  when  the  controversial  spirit  subsides, 
all  rational  men  will  admit  the  gravity  of  vice, 
quite  apart  from  its  hygienic  consequences.  The 
history  of  decadent  Greece  and  Rome  will  show 
to  what  depths  of  imbecility  and  shame  it  may 
cause  a  nation  to  fall.  There  can  be  no  greater 
mistake  than  to  believe  that  the  impulses  that  lead 
to  vice  are  constant  and  invariable,  capable  of  com- 
plete satiation.  They  grow  with  feeding ;  if  they  are 
wearied  with  one  kind  of  satisfaction,  they  seek 
not  rest,  but  variety.  This  fact,  rather  than  any 
other,  will  account  for  the  hideous  forms  of  vice 
that  disfigured  ancient  society.  One  does  not 

59 


60  The  Social  Evil 

need  a  revealed  religion  or  a  subtle  moral  philo- 
sophy to  teach  him  that  unrestrained  vice  results 
in  mental  and  moral  disease  and  degeneracy  far 
more  hideous  and  far  more  dangerous  to  society 
than  any  form  of  physical  disease. 

Accordingly,  if  it  is  a  dangerous  policy  for 
government  to  ignore  the  existence  of  venereal 
diseases  and  to  neglect  any  possible  means  for 
preventing  them,  it  is  a  still  more  dangerous 
policy  to  ignore  vice  and  to  permit  it  to  grow 
unchecked.  To  limit  the  number  of  those  who 
seek  vicious  pleasures,  and  to  prevent  the  fur- 
nishing of  such  pleasures  to  those  who  are  inclined 
to  seek  them,  is  one  of  the  first  duties  of  good 
government. 

There  is  a  widely-prevalent  opinion  that  the 
moral  task  is  too  great  for  government  to  under- 
take, while  sanitary  improvements  may  be  easily 
brought  about;  accordingly,  it  is  expedient  to 
limit  governmental  activity  to  the  comparatively 
narrow  field  of  sanitary  regulation.  Those  who 
hold  this  view  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  humanity 
is  not  divided  into  two  classes,  the  virtuous  and 
the  vicious,  but  that  in  it  is  represented  every 
degree  of  virtue  and  vice,  from  the  purest  to  the 
most  utterly  depraved.  There  will  probably  al- 
ways be  men  who  are  swayed  solely  by  animal 
passions,  and  it  would  be  vain  to  hope  to  make 
them  virtuous  by  legislative  enactment.  There 
will  always  be  women  who  fall  willing  victims  to 


Moral  Aspect  of  Regulation  61 

vice,  whom  no  governmental  vigilance  could  save. 
A  great  part  of  vice  withdraws  itself  as  completely 
from  social  control  as  do  a  man's  secret  thoughts. 
The  fact  remains  that  the  greater  part  of  humanity 
stands  midway  between  the  two  extremes  and  may 
be  improved  or  degraded  in  morals  by  circum- 
stances which  lie  within  the  control  of  society. 

Indeed,  it  is  almost  inexplicable  that  any  one 
should  doubt  that  a  more  rational  system  of 
education,  better  housing  conditions,  the  suppres- 
sion of  flagrant  incitement  to  vice,  and  the  dis- 
sociating of  vice  from  legitimate  amusement 
would  diminish  the  number  of  patrons  of  prostitu- 
tion, and  would  limit  the  extent  to  which  the 
remainder  indulge  in  illicit  pleasures.  The  im- 
provement in  morals  could  not,  of  course,  be 
very  pronounced  in  its  effects.  A  large  part  of 
the  gain  could  appear  only  in  a  succeeding  genera- 
tion. It  would  certainly  be  worth  none  the  less 
for  that.  It  may  be  remarked  that  there  is  hardly 
a  reputable  defender  of  sanitary  regulation  who 
does  not  at  the  same  time  advocate  measures  of 
moral  reform.  The  influence  of  pernicious  sur- 
roundings in  promoting  immorality  is  everywhere 
recognised.  Some  writers  expect  much  good  from 
measures  that  tend  to  promote  morality  among 
men,  but  believe  that  nothing  can  be  done  to 
diminish  the  number  of  women  who  lead  immoral 
lives.  This  is  the  view  of  Tarnowsky.  It  rests 
upon  the  theory  of  the  innate  perversity  of  all 


62  The  Social  Evil 

prostitutes,  a  theory  which  is  not  borne  out  by 
the  facts.  Without  doubt,  congenital  perverts  do 
exist  among  women.  But  there  is  no  reason  for 
believing  that  they  form  more  than  a  negligible 
fraction  of  the  entire  number  of  prostitutes. 

A  very  large  number  of  prostitutes  begin  their 
career  of  shame  when  mere  children.  They  may 
be  the  victims  of  procurers,  or  they  may  drift  into 
1  vice  without  the  deliberate  incitement  of  any  per- 
son who  expects  to  profit  from  their  shame.  In 
any  case,  they  can  hardly  be  held  responsible  for 
their  vicious  conduct. 

It  is  a  disgrace  to  civilisation  that  panders  are 
still  permitted  to  betray  neglected  children  and  to 
take  part  of  their  earnings.  In  every  large  city 
those  who  have  been  attracted  into  prostitution 
before  they  were  old  enough  to  be  responsible  for 
their  acts  make  up  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
total  number  of  vicious  women. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  a  chronic  state  of 
poverty  has  a  powerful  influence  in  impelling  wo- 
men to  accept  a  vicious  life.  Society  has  up  to  the 
present  time  proven  unable  to  solve  the  problem 
of  poverty ;  and  until  that  problem  is  solved,  there 
is  little  reason  to  believe  that  there  will  cease  to  be 
a  class  of  women,  not  necessarily  congenitally  de- 
fective, who  will  choose  a  life  of  vice.  But  there 
are  in  every  large  city  classes  of  working  women 
whose  normal  income  is  sufficient  to  permit  them 
to  live  honourable  lives,  but  who  are  left  at  times 


Moral  Aspect  of  Regulation  63 

of  temporary  depression  with  no  means  of  escaping 
from  starvation  except  prostitution.1 

It  is  easily  conceivable  that  society  could  furnish 
temporary  relief  to  such  unfortunates  and  thus 
diminish,  to  an  appreciable  extent,  the  volume  of 
feminine  vice. 

Again,  there  still  remains  a  class  of  women  who 
are  abducted  and  forced  into  prostitution  by 
physical  violence.  The  fact  that  they  sooner  or 
later  accept  their  fate  is  the  only  thing  that  can 
account  for  the  indifference  of  society  toward  such 
a  shameful  condition.  This  is  certainly  a  factor 
within  the  control  of  government. 

The  possibilities  of  moral  regulation  are  by  no 
means  exhausted  when  society  has  done  all  in  its 
power  to  prevent  women  from  entering  upon  a  life 
of  shame.  It  is  a  long-exploded  fallacy  that  a 
woman  who  has  once  fallen  must  always  remain  in 
the  lowest  degradation  of  vice.  Of  the  great  num- 
bers who  have  fallen  through  need  or  thoughtless- 
ness, probably  the  majority  are  striving  to  rise  out 
of  the  mire.  It  is  a  commonplace  that  modern 
prostitution,  viewed  as  a  whole,  is  a  temporary, 
not  a  permanent  state.  After  a  few  years  of  shame 

"According  to  Blaschko,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899; 
Enquetes,  i.,  676,  occasional  prostitution  far  surpasses  in  extent  pro- 
fessional prostitution  in  the  great  industrial  centres  of  Germany. 
In  such  cities  prostitution  increases  or  diminishes  inversely  as  employ- 
ment in  industry.  In  St.  Petersburg  it  is  common  for  domestics  to 
practise  prostitution  when  out  of  employment  and  to  cease  from  it 
when  work  is  offered. — Sturmer,  Die  Prostitution  in  Russland,  76. 


64  The  Social  Evil 

the  greater  number  of  these  women  return  to 
honourable  employment,  marry,  or  become  kept 
mistresses,1  a  station  degraded  enough,  to  be  sure, 
but  infinitely  less  degraded  than  that  of  the  public 
prostitute. 

Even  among  the  registered  prostitutes  of  large 
European  cities,  there  are  many  who  are  each  year 
liberated  from  the  control  of  the  police,  on  the 
ground  that  they  have  ceased  to  prostitute  them- 
selves. Thus,  in  Copenhagen,  from  1871  to  1896, 
twenty  per  cent,  of  the  registered  prostitutes  were 
cancelled  from  the  register  because  of  marriage, 
thirteen  per  cent,  returned  to  their  relatives,  and 
ten  per  cent,  were  taken  in  charge  by  private 
persons  (institutions,  etc.).2  Of  course,  this  would 
be  much  more  frequently  the  case  with  occasional 
prostitutes,  who  have  not  formed  the  habits  of  a 
vicious  life. 

When  the  fact  that  prostitutes  can  and  do  re- 
form is  taken  into  account,  it  becomes  evident  that 
government  has  not  performed  all  its  duty  as  a 
moralising  force  until  it  has  done  everything  in  its 
power  to  make  reform  possible  for  those  who  desire 
it.  The  very  least  that  common  morality  can  de- 
mand is  that  no  obstacle  should  be  placed  in  the  way 
of  the  unfortunates  who  are  struggling  to  reform. 

1  Ehlers,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enque'tes,  i.,  98 
et  seq.;  Schmolder,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports 
Preliminaires;  Jeannel,  La  Prostitution  dans  les  grandes  Villes  du 
dixneuvie'me  Siecle,  263. 

a  Ehlers,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enquttes,  i.,  121. 


CHAPTER  VII 

FUNDAMENTAL   OPPOSITION    BETWEEN    MORAL   AND 
SANITARY  CONTROL 

IT  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  the  sanitary 
and  moral  interests  in  the  control  of  prostitution 
cannot  be  wholly  in  harmony  with  each  other. 
Some  features  of  sanitary  control  may  be  equally 
salutary  morally,  and  vice  versa.  Others  may  at 
least  be  indifferent  morally,  and  so  create  no  real 
opposition  between  the  two  groups  of  interests. 
But  unquestionably  many  regulations  which  may 
be  very  good  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view  are  evil 
from  the  point  of  view  of  morals.  And  the  reverse 
is  likewise  true. 

It  is  not  an  accident  that  in  Paris,  where  the 
sanitary  branch  of  the  service  has  been  grafted 
upon  the  Morals  Police  proper,  and  is  still  sub- 
ordinate to  it,  there  should  be  constant  friction 
between  the  medical  men  and  the  police.  The 
police,  as  guardians  of  public  morals,  do  not  find 
it  possible  to  put  into  force  measures  that  the 
physicians  consider  absolutely  essential.  This  is 
still  more  the  case  in  Austria,  where!  the  two 

5  65 


66  The  Social  Evil 

branches  are  independent  of  each  other.  The 
complaint  is  frequently  made  by  the-  sanitary 
branch  that  the  morals  branch  pursues  its  own 
ends,  quite  regardless  of  sanitary  considerations. 
A  learned  Austrian  writer  has  laid  down  the  axiom 
that  the  less  the  attention  that  is  paid  to  public 
morality,  the  better  will  be  the  state  of  public 
health,  and  vice  versd.* 

The  reason  for  this  opposition  lies  upon  the 
surface.  Since  venereal  diseases  are  always  the 
result  of  contagion,  it  is  evident  that  if  all  those 
who  are  diseased  could  be  isolated,  and  kept  under 
treatment  until  entirely  cured,  venereal  disease 
would  disappear.  But  it  is  manifestly  impossible 
to  discover  all  cases  of  disease  in  the  general 
population  and  to  treat  the  patients  discovered  in 
isolation.  Since,  however,  venereal  disease  is 
usually  directly  or  indirectly  traceable  to  prostitu- 
tion, if  prostitutes  could  be  kept  free  from  it, 
it  would  eventually  disappear  from  society.  To 
attain  this  end  it  would  be  necessary  to  discover 
every  case  of  disease  as  soon  as  it  appears,  and  to 
confine  the  patient  until  the  disease  is  wholly  cured. 
And  this  implies,  of  course,  a  rigid  police  control 
over  every  woman  who  sells  the  use  of  her  person, 
whether  publicly  or  not, — a  control  sufficient  to 
compel  her  to  submit  to  very  frequent  sanitary- 
inspection,  and  to  a  long  and  tedious  imprisonment 
whenever  she  is  infected  with  disease.  Naturally, 

1  Schrank,  Die  Prostitution  in  Wien,  ii.,  126. 


Moral  and  Sanitary  Control  Opposed    67 

the  most  violent  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
prostitute  must  be  expected.  For  several  reasons, 
the  periodic  examinations  are  irksome  to  her;  still 
more  irksome  is  compulsory  treatment,  since  the 
diseases  with  which  she  is  infected  may  not  be 
painful  to  her,  and  she  cares  not  a  whit  whether 
she  transmits  them  to  her  clients  or  not, — no  more 
than  do  her  clients  care  whether  they  transmit 
disease  to  her.  According  to  this  system  of  regu- 
lation, the  police  would  treat  her  much  as  a  chattel, 
and  would  keep  her  in  good  health  for  her  clients' 
sake. 

It  is  the  habit  of  many  who  advocate  such  a 
system  of  regulation  to  paint  all  prostitutes  as 
hideous,  blear-eyed,  degenerate  creatures,  recog- 
nisable at  a  glance,  detestable  to  all,  even  to  their 
"consumers,"  stained  through  and  through  with 
every  form  of  vice.  If  such  a  characterisation 
corresponded  with  the  reality,  it  would  be  com- 
paratively easy  to  carry  out  such  a  system  of  regu- 
lation, and  any  moral  opposition  which  might  arise 
could  be  met  by  pointing  out  incidental  effects 
that  would  make  for  morality  and  public  order. 
The  lodgings  of  the  prostitute  would  be  under 
police  supervision  and  would  be  prevented  from 
becoming  dens  of  filth  and  contagion.  The  police 
would  become  acquainted  with  the  general  habits 
of  such  women,  would  know  the  individuals  who 
prey  upon  them,  and  thus  could  prevent  them  from 
becoming  the  tools  of  low  criminals,  as  they  so 


68  The  Social  Evil 

often  do  under  conditions  of  laissez  faire.  More- 
over, the  police  would  naturally  inquire  into  their 
antecedents  and  would  thus  collect  valuable  data 
as  to  the  causes,  biological  and  social,  which 
are  responsible  for  such  depraved  forms  of 
humanity. 

Even  if  the  premise  of  such  a  class  of  prostitutes 
is  accepted,  the  objection  might  be  raised  that  the 
semi-official  position  of  the  prostitute  would  seem 
to  indicate  a  public  sanction  of  debauch.  The 
official  guarantee  of  good  health  would  remove  any 
hesitancy  to  indulge  in  forbidden  pleasures  that 
fear  of  disease  might  create.  Writers  of  the  regie- 
mentation  school  claim,  however,  that  as  a  prac- 
tical fact  the  patrons  of  women  of  this  class  are  not 
likely  to  be  influenced  much  by  sanction  or  lack 
of  sanction  on  the  part  of  the  police,  nor  are  they 
of  self-control  sufficient  to  restrain  their  passions 
for  fear  of  disease.1 

But  it  would  be  a  grievous  error  to  suppose  that 
all  prostitutes,  or  even  a  very  large  proportion  of 
them,  are  thus  easily  distinguished  from  the  decent 
classes  of  society.  Modern  prostitution  is  an  in- 
finitely complex  phenomenon.  It  is  intangible, 
indefinable.  From  its  complexity  arise  not  only 
the  most  serious  practical  difficulties,  but  moral 
difficulties  as  well. 

With  perhaps  the  majority  of  prostitutes,   the 

1  As  an  example  of  this  naive  type  of  reasoning,  see  Report  of  Par- 
liamentary Committee  on  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  1882. 


Moral  and  Sanitary  Control  Opposed    69 

life  of  shame  is  only  a  temporary  state.1  In  a  time 
of  distress,  they  resort  to  it  as  their  readiest  means 
of  support.  Or,  during  certain  years  in  which 
their  native  passions  are  strong,  they  accept  such 
a  life  from  choice,  but,  .tiring  of  it,  they  seek  to 
return  into  the  society  which  they  have  left.  At 
first  but  a  comparatively  small  number  of  them 
admit  to  themselves  that  they  have  taken  an 
irrevocable  step.  They  conceal  their  life  from  their 
friends,  they  account  in  some  fictitious  way  for 
their  earnings.  It  may  be  that  they  do  not  have 
the  strength  to  abandon  the  life  after  once  be- 
coming accustomed  to  it.  But  the  majority,  in  all 
probability,  do  abandon  it. 

To  the  average  individual,  it  is  true,  there  is 
something  exceedingly  repulsive  in  the  idea  of  the 
restoration  to  decent  society  of  women  who  have 
lived  a  vicious  life.  In  the  small  city,  the  girl  who 
has  been  the  victim  of  the  selfishness  and  treachery 
of  the  man  whom  she  has  trusted  becomes  a  social 
outcast;  how  much  more  would  society  thrust 
from  itself  those  who,  even  under  the  stress  of 
starvation,  have  sold  their  honour.  Yet  these 
women  are  members  of  society  and  can  hardly  be 
refused  by  government  the  right  to  reform.  And 
reform  would  be  all  but  impossible  if  they  were 
prevented  from  returning  to  some  kind  of  society 
above  the  plane  of  the  common  prostitute. 

Now,  it  is  clear  that  to  the  woman  who,  in  spite 

1  Supra,  74. 


70  The  Social  Evil 

of  her  secret  sin,  still  considers  herself  a  member  of 
decent  society,  any  policy  that  would  lay  bare  her 
doings,  search  out  her  antecedents,  classify  her 
with  those  whom  she,  at  any  rate,  considers 
infinitely  beneath  her,  would  be  a  positive  deter- 
rent to  reform.  Hitherto,  only  those  knew  of  her 
shame  who  shared  in  it;  after  she  is  placed  under 
police  control,  a  whole  police  system  is  privy  to  it. 
It  does  not  matter  that  the  Morals  Service  is 
bound  not  to  disclose  what  it  knows ;  the  woman  is 
certain  that  at  any  time  in  her  life  the  knowledge 
of  her  previous  conduct  may  in  some  mysterious 
way  leak  out ;  and  the  official  record  of  her  shame 
exists,  to  be  consulted  by  favourites  of  the  bureau, 
in  spite  of  general  regulations. 

As  would  be  expected,  it  is  the  opponents  of  a 
system  of  regulation  who  lay  most  stress  upon  the 
fact  that  subjection  to  any  police  control  that 
would  be  sufficient  for  sanitary  purposes  is  a  serious 
check  to  reform, — an  act  calculated  to  transform 
the  temporary  state  of  prostitution  into  a  perma- 
nent one.1  But  the  more  moderate  and  more 
rational  supporters  of  reglementation  admit  that 
inscription  upon  the  register  of  shame  is  a  most 
serious  step,  and  one  to  be  taken  only  when  the 
chances  of  reform  are  small. 2 

1  See  Yves-Guyot,  La  Prostitution,  218  et  seq.,  and  Sheldon  Amos, 
Regulation  of  Vice,  87  et  seq. 

2  "  Inscription  upon  the  register  of  the  bureau  of  morals  is  the  final 
stage  of  vice,  the  final  term  of  degradation.     It  is  the  official  formality 
which,  like  the  licentia  stupri  of  the  Romans,  regulates  and  legitimates 


Moral  and  Sanitary  Control  Opposed     71 

Such  are  some  of  the  moral  considerations 
against  forcing  women  to  submit  to  police  control 
against  their  own  will.  In  many  cases,  however, 
the  utmost  willingness  on  the  part  of  the  prostitute 
will  not  morally  justify  her  registration.  This  is 
especially  the  case  with  minors.  In  every  large 
city  there  are  numbers  of  very  young  girls  engaged 
in  professional  vice.  According  to  the  theory  of 
sanitary  regulation,  these  ought  to  be  subjected 
to  periodical  examinations  as  well  as  any  others. 
But  moral  considerations  forbid  the  public  recog- 
nition of  a  right  of  children  of  thirteen,  fourteen, 
and  fifteen  to  prostitute  themselves.  It  is  a  matter 
of  sufficient  gravity  to  register  minors  of  more 
years  than  these.  On  the  Continent,  the  consent 
of  parents  and  guardians  is  usually  required  for 
their  registration.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the 
securing  of  the  consent  of  a  probably  vicious  and 
worthless  parent  can  relieve  the  administration  of 
any  moral  responsibility. 

It  would,  accordingly,  seem  that  while  there  is 
a  class  of  prostitutes  who  would  hardly  be  injured 

the  sad  trade  of  prostitution.  It  is,  in  a  word,  that  sinister  act  which 
severs  a  woman  from  society  and  which  makes  her  a  chattel  of  the 
Administration." — Mireur,  La  Prostitution  a  Marseilles. 

"The  system  of  supervision  and  regulation  of  vice  which  exists 
almost  everywhere  to-day  is  more  designed  to  force  into  the  depths 
the  girls  who  are  upon  the  downward  path,  and  to  retain  in  the  pro- 
fession of  prostitution  those  who  are  already  under  police  control, 
than  to  lighten  their  return  to  the  right." — Neisser,  Conference  Inter- 
nationale, Brussels,  1899;  Rapports  Preliminaires,  sme  Question,  14; 
also  Jeannel,  op.  cit.,  315. 


72  The  Social  Evil 

by  sanitary  regulation,  whom  it  might  be  for  the 
public  welfare  to  subject  to  such  regulation,  there 
is  also  a  class  the  subjection  of  which  to  regulation 
is  inadmissible  from  the  moral  point  of  view.  In 
practice,  every  system  of  regulation  is  compelled 
to  take  a  middle  course,  sacrificing  moral  ends  to 
sanitary  and  sanitary  to  moral.  As  a  result,  it  is 
impossible  to  realise  either  end  completely. 

There  are  other  moral  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
a  system  of  regulation.  No  amount  of  sophistical 
discrimination  between  the  words  "toleration" 
and  "recognition"  can  conceal  the  fact  that  a 
system  of  regulation  makes  of  prostitution  a  legiti- 
mate industry  subject  to  regulations  in  the  behalf 
of  its  patrons  identical  in  nature  with  the  early  reg- 
ulations as  to  the  weight  of  the  loaf  of  bread,  or  the 
size  and  quality  of  the  yard  of  woollens.  Almost 
every  one  is  familiar  enough  with  human  nature  to 
know  that  the  notion  that  any  indulgence  is  a 
general  need,  inherent  in  the  state  of  manhood, 
creates  in  the  growing  boy  an  almost  irresistible 
impulse  to  experience  it.  State  recognition  and 
regulation  of  prostitution  would  unquestionably 
tend  to  confirm  the  already  common  opinion  that 
secret  indulgence  is  an  imperative  need. 

Again,  the  creation  of  the  impression  that 
prostitution  is  safe  is  pretty  sure  to  increase  the 
patronage  of  the  prostitute,  and  in  so  far  to  in- 
crease the  material  basis  without  which  prostitu- 
tion would  perish.  While  there  are  large  numbers 


Moral  and  Sanitary  Control  Opposed    73 

of  men  who  cannot  be  deterred  from  incontinence 
by  fear  of  disease,  yet  even  of  these  there  are  doubt- 
less some  who  indulge  less  freely  in  vicious  pleasures 
for  that  reason.  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  travel- 
lers are  less  self -restrained  in  this  respect  in  cities 
that  have  the  reputation  of  possessing  a  good 
system  of  regulation  than  they  are  elsewhere.1 

In  the  practical  working  of  regulation  systems, 
there  are  many  features  that  are  not  in  keeping 
with  moral  requirements.  The  French  system  of 
encouraging  the  establishment  of  brothels  is  a  case 
in  point.  Any  one  knows  that  the  assembling 
under  one  roof  of  a  group  of  depraved  women 
means  a  still  further  increase  in  their  depravity. 
The  creation  of  a  propertied  class  which  legiti- 
mately shares  the  profits  of  vice  is  in  itself  de- 
moralising. It  means  the  recognition  of  pecuniary 
interests  in  the  fall  of  women.2  In  no  country  have 

1  It  is  sometimes  argued  that  the  fact  that  the  "control-book"  is 
very  rarely  shown  by  the  prostitute  to  her  patrons  proves  that  little 
thought  is  given  to  the  possibility  of  disease,  and  that  hence  the  guaran- 
tee of  good  health  does  not  add  to  the  sum-total  of  immorality.     Of 
course  it  proves  nothing  of  the  kind.     In  a  city  where  sanitary  regula- 
tion exists,  the  patron  generally  takes  it  for  granted  that  such  women 
are  subjected  to  it  and  that  the  fact  that  they  are  at  large  proves  their 
freedom  from  disease.     (For  authority  as  to  the  popular  belief  in  the 
safety  of  regulated  prostitution,  see  Strohmberg,  Die  Prostitution,  120.) 

2  France  has  long  possessed  a  regular  publication  (Annuaire  Reirum) 
which  gives  the  addresses  of  all  houses  of  prostitution  in  the  cities  and 
towns  of  France,  together  with  information  of  interest  to  the  "trade," 
such  as  the  towns  suited  by  population  and  number  of  men  in  the  garri- 
son for  the  establishment  of  new  brothels,  etc.     The  procuring  of  new 
recruits  for  the  brothels  is  often  undertaken  by  men  representing 
groups  of  licensed  houses. — Reuss,  op.  cit.,  151  et  seq. 


74  The  Social  Evil 

brothels  existed  without  the  rise  of  individuals  who 
make  seduction  a  profession.  Of  course,  flagrant 
crimes  against  morality  are  sometimes  punished. 
Nevertheless,  if  the  brothel  is  to  exist,  it  cannot  be 
held  too  strictly  to  account  for  the  measures  it  takes 
in  securing  the  necessary  number  of  occupants. 

It  has  long  been  recognised  that  it  is  evil,  from 
the  moral  point  of  view,  to  permit  the  sale  of 
alcoholic  liquors  in  brothels.  The  existence  of 
places  of  amusement  in  connection  with  brothels 
is  another  serious  evil;  men  who  are  simply  in 
search  of  amusement  that  is  harmless  in  itself  are 
likely  to  be  attracted  there,  only  to  become  sub- 
ject to  temptations  which  they  do  not  have  the 
strength  to  resist.  Accordingly,  it  was  at  first  the 
policy  in  Paris  to  prohibit  music  and  dancing,  and 
the  sale  of  intoxicants  in  public  brothels.  But  it 
was  found  that  the  brothel  could  not  exist  under 
such  conditions.  And  so  the  Parisian  brothels  have 
been  permitted  to  transform  themselves  into  luxuri- 
ous cafes  and  the  like,  where  every  form  of  harm- 
less entertainment  is  enlisted  in  the  service  of  vice. 

Again,  public  morals  demand  that  solicitation 
upon  the  street  and  in  public  places1  should  cease. 

1  "From  the  moment  that  by  inscription  a  semi-official  seal  is  placed 
upon  prostitution,  one  is  morally  bound  to  grant  the  women  upon 
whom  obligations  are  imposed  the  right  to  exercise  their  trade.  For  the 
great  majority  of  public  women,  solicitation  upon  the  street  is  the  only 
kind  that  can  be  employed.  The  street,  where  they  elbow  the  passers- 
by,  furnishes  them  the  means  of  their  existence;  forbid  it  them,  and  they 
die  of  hunger." — Reuss,  op.  cU.,  265. 


Moral  and  Sanitary  Control  Opposed    75 

But  the  prostitute  at  large  would  find  it  practically 
impossible  to  live  if  the  prohibition  were  enforced. 
The  enforcement  of  such  a  regulation  is  not  in 
harmony  with  a  system  of  toleration. 

The  licensed  prostitute  is  perfectly  aware  of  this 
fact,  and  her  conduct  is  apt  to  be  marked  by  a 
flagrancy  which  the  clandestine  prostitute  would 
not  dare  to  assume. 

Of  course  it  is  perfectly  apparent  that  a  system 
of  regulation  which  includes  sanitary  supervision 
may,  from  a  moral  point  of  view,  be  far  better  than 
a  system  of  absolute  laissez  faire.  Where  prosti- 
tution is  absolutely  unrestrained,  as  it  was  in 
London  some  years  ago,  crimes  against  morality 
are  without  doubt  more  frequent  than  in  a  city 
like  Paris.  The  debauching  of  minors  was  in- 
finitely more  frequent;  the  forcible  detention  in 
brothels,  a  thing  not  unknown  in  Paris,  was  fairly 
common.  Organised  societies  for  the  debauching 
of  little  girls  have  existed,  and  probably  still  exist.1 
Solicitation  is  nowhere  more  open,  more  cynical. 

But  comparison  cannot  be  made  between  a  city 
in  which  there  is  practically  no  police  control  of 
vice,  and  one  in  which  a  most  efficient  police  sys- 
tem has  struggled  with  the  evil  for  a  century. 
Moreover,  the  conditions  of  the  two  cities  are  not 
such  as  to  permit  of  a  comparison  of  any  value  at 
all.  One  must  rather  compare  the  moral  condition 

1  See  Revelations  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  1886;  also  Select  Report 
on  Law  relating  to  the  Protection  of  Young  Girls,  1881,  579. 


76  The  Social  Evil 

of  a  city  in  which  sanitary  control  exists  with  the 
conditions  that  would  prevail  were  sanitary  con- 
trol replaced  by  an  equally  efficient  moral  control. 

There  is  one  important  consideration  which  may 
be  noticed  here,  although  it  concerns  itself  im- 
mediately with  public  policy  rather  than  with 
morality  proper.  Every  student  of  political  science 
knows  that  it  is  a  serious  matter  to  create  laws  or 
regulations  which  do  not  express  the  moral  feelings 
of  the  more  law-abiding  class  of  society.  The  legal 
institution  of  mala  prohibita  which  are  not  gener- 
ally felt  to  be  mala  in  se  necessarily  tends  to 
diminish  the  feeling  for  the  sanctity  of  the  law, — 
a  feeling  without  which  laws  can  be  effectively 
administered  only  by  the  strong  hand  of  despotic 
government. 

Infinitely  more  grave  is  the  institution  of  laws 
which  are,  rightly  or  wrongly,  felt  by  the  moral 
classes  of  a  state  to  be  of  execrable  immorality. 
If,  for  example,  it  were  agreed  by  sociological  and 
political  theorists  that  social  welfare  would  be 
furthered  by  the  literal  enslavement  of  the  idle  and 
vicious,  a  law  to  that  effect  would  be  a  menace 
to  good  government  so  long  as  the  general  public 
looks  upon  human  liberty  as  sacred.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  abstract  thinkers  might  conclude 
that  society  would  be  better  off  if  the  congenitally 
defective,  those  of  criminal  instincts,  and  those 
who  suffer  from  incurable,  loathsome,  and  danger- 
ous diseases  could  be  put  out  of  the  way.  But  no 


Moral  and  Sanitary  Control  Opposed    77 

sane  legislator  would  be  willing  to  violate  the  feel- 
ing of  the  sanctity  of  human  life. 

In  every  civilised  country  there  is  a  large  class 
of  persons  who  look  upon  reglementation  as  a 
state  iniquity  exactly  analogous  to  the  above 
hypothetical  policies.  They  consider  that  by 
legitimising  vice  the  state  identifies  itself  with 
immorality.  By  creating  a  class  of  administrative 
chattels  for  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  vicious, 
the  state  outrages  the  deepest  sentiments  of 
humanity.  By  discriminating  between  vicious 
women  and  vicious  men,  it  insults  womankind. 
By  rendering  vice  innocuous,  either  in  fact  or  in 
seeming,  it  incites  the  youth  of  both  sexes  to 
debauch.  The  defender  of  sanitary  regulation  will 
argue  in  vain  against  reasoning  of  this  kind.  He 
may  try  to  prove  that  the  countervailing  good  of 
reglementation  would  be  so  great  that  the  sum  of 
human  happiness  would  be  greatly  increased  by 
its  introduction.  But  moral  sentiments  do  not 
demand  that  society  should  be  happy;  they  do 
demand  that  it  should  be  moral. 

Accordingly,  even  if  it  could  be  shown  that  san- 
itary regulation  is  actually  as  effective  in  checking 
disease  as  its  supporters  claim,  and  even  if  it  were 
impossible  to  demonstrate  a  serious  moral  cost, 
the  legislator  would  be  compelled  to  take  into 
account  the  existence  of  such  general  antagonism 
to  the  policy  of  reglementation.  There  is  every 
reason  for  believing  that,  in  an  American  city,  the 


78  The  Social  Evil 

more  moral  element  in  the  population  would  be 
practically  a  unit  against  it. 

One  further  objection,  also  political  rather  than 
moral,  may  be  added.  It  is  the  general  belief  of 
political  thinkers,  at  least  in  Anglo-Saxon  states, 
that  every  encroachment  upon  the  liberty  of  the 
individual  is  an  evil  in  itself,  only  to  be  justified 
by  a  very  great  good  resulting  from  it.  A  system 
which  makes  it  possible  for  the  police  to  seize  on 
suspicion  any  citizen  and  impose  upon  him  an 
insulting  examination  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
covering disease,  and  to  imprison  him  on  suspicion 
that  he  would  immorally  communicate  it  if  left  at 
large,  cannot  be  said  to  be  in  harmony  with  the 
principles  of  personal  liberty.  Any  person  might 
be  subject  to  such  indignity,  since  the  natural 
grounds  upon  which  the  administrators  of  such  a 
system  would  act  are  the  accusations  of  persons 
who  have  confessedly  shared  in  immorality.  * 

It  need  not  be  supposed  that  the  liberty  of  the 
average  citizen  is  secured  because  the  police  in  this 
specific  case  act  only  with  regard  to  friendless 
women.  One  inroad  into  the  domain  of  individual 
liberty  is  a  precedent  for  another. 

1  In  Paris  and  Berlin  the  registered  prostitutes  are  recognised  auxil- 
iaries of  the  police  in  hunting  down  clandestine  prostitutes.  It  can 
readily  be  seen  that  the  personal  liberty  of  any  woman  who  is  not  of 
unquestioned  standing  in  society  may  be  jeopardised  by  the  spite  of  a 
common  harlot. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PRACTICAL    DIFFICULTIES    IN    THE    REGULATION    OF 
PROSTITUTION 

WE  have  seen  that  the  ideal  of  sanitary  regula- 
tion can,  for  moral  reasons,  admit  of  only  an 
approximate  realisation.  It  is  of  great  importance 
to  examine  regulation  as  it  exists  to-day,  with  a 
view  to  ascertaining  how  far  the  approximation 
falls  short  of  the  ideal. 

That  part  of  prostitution  which  cannot  be  sub- 
jected to  sanitary  control  is  necessarily  very  large. 
Probably  by  far  the  greater  number  of  prostitutes 
begin  their  career  of  shame  before  they  have  at- 
tained their  majority. I 

This  fact  is  so  well  known  that  authority  need 
hardly  be  cited  to  prove  it.  It  stands  to  reason 
that  the  waif  or  neglected  child  of  fifteen,  sixteen, 
or  seventeen  should  fall  the  easiest  prey,  first  of 
the  seducer  and  later  of  the  procurer. 

1  Of  1000  prostitutes  concerning  whom  Dr.  Le  Pileur  was  able  to 
secure  detailed  information,  758  began  to  prostitute  themselves  before 
the  twenty-first  year;  109  were  prostitutes  before  the  sixteenth  year. — 
Le  Pileur,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports  Prelimin- 
aires,  3me  Question,  47. 

79 


8o  The  Social  Evil 

Since  the  average  length  of  time  in  which  a 
prostitute  exercises  her  trade  is  not  more  than 
half  a  dozen  years,  it  is  evident  that  the  minors 
make  up  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  total 
numbers  of  those  who  are  at  any  time  engaged  in 
prostitution. 

But  minors,  as  a  rule,  cannot  be  subjected  to 
sanitary  control.  In  every  country  there  is  a 
strong  public  sentiment  against  the  official  recog- 
nition of  minor  prostitutes.  Whether  it  is  a  sound 
moral  sentiment  or  mere  sentimentality,  it  must 
be  counted  with  as  a  fact;  and  no  administration 
dares  to  violate  it  to  any  great  extent. ' 

With  the  minors  may  be  grouped  the  very  large 
numbers  of  prostitutes  who  will  not  voluntarily 
subject  themselves  to  sanitary  control,  and  whose 
conduct  is  not  sufficiently  notorious  to  justify 
compulsory  registration.  Naturally,  most  prosti- 
tutes begin  in  this  class.  They  are  not  at  first 
sufficiently  hardened  to  be  willing  to  be  classed 
with  notorious  prostitutes;  they  still  cherish  the 
purpose  of  returning  to  honourable  life.  And 
although  the  police  may  suspect  them,  in  prob- 
ably nine  cases  out  of  ten  it  would  be  impossible 

1  In  Berlin,  229  minors  were  registered  in  1898.  Any  one  can  see 
that  the  number  is  wholly  insignificant  as  compared  with  the  number 
actually  living  in  the  state  of  prostitution.  In  Paris,  from  1816  to 
I832,  59%  of  those  newly  registered  were  minors.  From  1851  to 
1866  minors  made  up  33%.  From  1880  to  1886  the  minors  were 
20%.  The  percentage  has  declined  since,  but  the  exact  figures  are 
not  at  hand. 


Practical  Difficulties  81 

to  obtain  proof  that  would  by  any  regular  course 
of  judicial  procedure  convict  them  of  debauch. 
It  is  true  that  such  proof  is  not  absolutely  neces- 
sary. Every  police  administration  that  under- 
takes to  control  prostitution  pursues  a  more  or  less 
arbitrary  policy.  But  experience  has  proved  that 
such  a  policy  must  be  pursued  with  great  care. 
Otherwise  the  charge  is  sure  to  arise  that  honourable 
women  have  been  seized  and  branded  with  the  deep- 
est infamy  known  to  civilisation.  It  may  be  that  the 
women  in  question  are  really  what  the  police  con- 
sider them  to  be.  But  if  positive  proof  is  wanting, 
as  must  generally  be  the  case,  the  women  stand 
innocent  before  the  general  public.  And  many  such 
charges  would  annihilate  any  police  organisation. 

Continental  defenders  of  sanitary  regulation 
frequently  deplore  the  violent  opposition  to  the 
sanitary  police  that  is  aroused  whenever  the  charge 
of  arbitrary  procedure  is  made.  The  system  of 
sanitary  control,  they  claim,  is  shorn  of  all  effective- 
ness if  the  police  are  not  empowered  to  act  upon 
reasonable  suspicion.  Whether  the  popular  feeling 
is  sound  or  not,  it  is  not  necessary  to  inquire.  The 
fact  remains  that  it  exists  in  every  country,  and 
that  administrative  systems  find  themselves  com- 
pelled to  respect  it.  Even  in  Russia,  where,  we  are 
accustomed  to  believe,  the  police  do  much  as  they 
please,  the  high-class  prostitute  is  seldom  forced 
upon  the  register,  for  the  simple  reason  that  she 
can  make  her  cause  heard.  It  is  the  low-class 


82  The  Social  Evil 

woman1  who  is  the  subject  of  arbitrary  disposal. 
In  Germany,  imbued  as  it  is  with  military  ideals, 
the  police  proceed  with  a  good  deal  of  freedom  in 
registering  women  against  their  will.  Lack  of 
visible  means  of  support,  and  the  existence  of 
venereal  disease  are  taken  as  proof  of  prostitution. 
Of  course,  reflection  will  show  that  such  proof  is 
not  absolute.  But  the  public  is  generally  willing 
enough  to  believe  that  a  woman  without  support, 
especially  if  diseased,  is  of  bad  character;  and 
doubtless  mistakes  would  not  be  so  very  frequent. 
The  experience  of  Berlin  proves,  however,  that  the 
great  majority  of  those  who  are  actually  prostitutes 
cannot  be  discovered  even  in  this  way. 

In  Paris,  the  police  are  more  circumspect  in  pro- 
ceeding to  register  unwilling  women  as  prostitutes. 
The  movement  for  the  abolition  of  control  during 
the  'seventies  and  'eighties  brought  to  light  some 
exceedingly  unfortunate  mistakes  that  had  been 
made  in  the  arrest  of  suspected  women.2  Doubt- 
less the  Bureau  of  Morals  proceeded  with  as  great 
caution  as  possible.  But  if  compulsory  registration 
is  employed  freely,  some  mistakes  are  inevitable. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  far  such  a 
policy  could  be  pursued  in  a  great  city  of  England 
or  America,  with  Anglo-Saxon  notions  of  personal 
liberty  and  of  inviolability  of  domicile,  and  with 

1  Sturmer,  Die  Prostitution  in  Russland,  107. 

3  Mrs.  Butler,  Personal  Reminiscences  of  a  Great  Crusade,  285 ;  Yves- 
Guyot,  op.  cit.,  126. 


Practical  Difficulties  83 

Anglo-Saxon  dislike  for  police  inquisition  into 
private  affairs.  Of  course  a  great  number  of  low- 
class  prostitutes  could  be  picked  up  in  notorious 
resorts,  and  public  opinion  might  find  little  to 
object  to.  But  as  soon  as  the  more  notorious  had 
been  disposed  of,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  police 
could  proceed  farther. 

Accordingly,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that 
voluntary  registration  must  chiefly  be  relied  upon. 
Such  is  the  case  in  the  two  cities  we  have  selected 
as  typical.1  It  may,  further,  be  taken  for  granted 
that  the  very  great  majority  of  prostitutes  will 
never  submit  voluntarily.2 

1  Of  course,  "voluntary"  inscription  must  be  understood  to  imply 
something  quite  different  from  free  consent.  By  frequent  arrests,  by 
threats  of  long  imprisonment,  and  the  like,  these  women  are  compelled 
to  submit.  But  of  course  no  such  persecution  would  compel  a  really 
innocent  woman  to  consent  to  inscription. 

a  Every  authority  on  prostitution  will  state  that  the  unsubjected 
or  "clandestine"  prostitutes  far  outnumber  those  who  are  subject  to 
control.  Naturally,  the  number  of  the  clandestine  can  be  arrived  at 
only  by  conjecture.  Some  of  these  conjectures  may,  however,  be 
worth  mentioning. 

Barthelemy  estimates  that  the  clandestine  prostitutes  are  from  ten 
to  fifteen  times  as  numerous  as  the  subjected.  Reuss  contents  himself 
with  saying  that  the  clandestine  are  greatly  in  the  majority.  Lecour, 
writing  in  the  'seventies,  estimated  the  number  of  prostitutes  in  Paris 
at  30,000,  of  whom  about  4000  were  subjected.  At  present,  something 
over  6000  are  subjected;  and  from  the  incessant  complaints  of  the 
increase  of  clandestine  prostitution,  we  may  infer  that  the  proportion 
has  not  changed  for  the  better  (from  the  reglementist  point  of  view). 
Muller,  writing  in  1867,  estimated  the  prostitutes  of  Vienna  at  20,000. 
In  all  probability  the  number  has  since  doubled.  Those  under  sanitary 
control  numbered  2400  in  1896.  Nieman,  in  1890,  estimated  that 
there  were  50,000  prostitutes  in  Berlin;  in  1887,  3063  were  under  san- 
itary control. 


84  The  Social  Evil 

Without  laying  too  great  weight  upon  con- 
jectural estimates  (although  the  authors  cited  are 
entitled  to  the  highest  respect),  one  may  consider 
it  a  very  conservative  opinion  that  in  none  of  the 
great  cities  of  Europe  do  the  registered  prostitutes 
make  up  more  than  from  ten  to  twenty-five  per 
cent,  of  the  total  number  of  those  who  gain  their 
living  by  prostitution. 

Without  reflection,  one  would  be  inclined  to 
suppose  that  the  part  controlled  is  the  more 
dangerous  from  the  sanitary  point  of  view,  since 
the  more  notoriously  debauched.  So  far  as  syphilis 
is  concerned,  this  is  a  mistake.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  syphilitic,  after  two  or  three  years, 
does  not  normally  transmit  contagion,  and  that 
she  is  immune  against  fresh  infection. 

Syphilitic  disease  is  so  common  among  the 
patrons  of  prostitution  that  a  prostitute  rarely 
escapes  the  disease  for  more  than  two  or  three 
years  after  entering  upon  her  life  of  shame.1  It  is, 
however,  these  years  in  which  the  prostitute  is 
most  averse  to  submission  to  control,  and  in  which 
it  is  the  most  difficult  for  the  police  to  force  her  to 
accept  control. 

Accordingly,  it  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  case  that 
a  very  large  percentage  of  those  who  submit  to 

1  Out  of  the  718  syphilitic  prostitutes  observed  by  Le  Pileur,  489, 
or  68%,  were  contaminated  in  the  same  year  in  which  they  began  to 
be  prostitutes;  101,  or  15%,  in  the  year  following. — Le  Pileur,  Con- 
ference Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports  Preliminaires,  3me 
Question,  49. 


Practical  Difficulties  85 

registration  have  gone  through  with  their  con- 
tagious period  either  partially  or  wholly.1  This 
would  be  especially  true  in  the  case  of  those  in- 
fected while  minors',  since  even  just  ground  for 
suspicion  is  not  sufficient  to  permit  of  their  regis- 
tration. It  will  surprise  no  one  to  know  that  a 
very  large  proportion  of  all  prostitutes  are  infected 
before  their  majority.2 

When  we  take  these  facts  into  account,  it  seems 
probable  that  of  those  who  become  registered 
prostitutes,  the  dangerous  period  does  not,  on  the 
average,  bear  as  great  a  proportion  to  the  post- 
contagious  period  of  their  career  as  registered 
prostitutes  as  did  the  contagious  period  before 
registration  to  the  period  before  infection.  More- 
over, those  who  are  never  registered  at  all  do  not 
continue  in  their  life  of  dishonor  as  long  after 

1  Of  431  registered  prostitutes  observed  by  the  same  authority,  318, 
or  74%,  were  already  syphilitic  when  registered;  147,  or  34%,  had  been 
infected  a  year  or  more  before  they  were  registered. — Le  Pileur,  Con- 
ference Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports  Preliminaires,  3me 
Question,  60. 

3  Dr.  Le  Pileur  describes  the  early  career  of  the  typical  prostitute 
in  the  following  "aphorism": 

"Deflowered  at  16, 
Prostitute  at  17, 
Syphilitic  at  18." 

Out  of  the  718  syphilitic  prostitutes,  498,  or  69%,  were  infected 
before  the  twenty-first  year. — Le  Pileur,  ibid. 

According  to  Fournier  fils,  63%  of  syphilitic  prostitutes  under  his 
observation  had  been  infected  before  the  twenty-first  year. — Confer- 
ence Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Compte  Rendu,  ii.,  ire  Question,  82. 

Jullien  finds  that  65%  are  contaminated  before  twenty-one. — Con- 
ference Internationale;  Compte  Rendu,  ii.,  ire  Question,  58. 


86  The  Social  Evil 

becoming  immune  as  do  those  who  are  eventually 
registered. 

One  further  fact  to  be  taken  into  account  is 
that  the  patron,  or  rather  the  consumer,  of  the 
child-prostitute,  does  not  exercise  the  same  caution 
that  he  would  under  other  circumstances.  He 
flatters  himself  that  it  is  the  first  debauch  or  pretty 
nearly  the  first.  In  like  manner,  the  man  who  has 
illicit  relations  with  women  who  outwardly  seem 
entirely  respectable  is  unlikely  to  suspect  disease. 

Accordingly,  there  would  seem  to  be  a  good  a 
priori  reason  for  believing  that  the  clandestine 
prostitutes  are  far  more  dangerous  than  the  regis- 
tered ;  and  this  quite  without  regard  for  the  greater 
or  less  degree  of  perfection  of  sanitary  surveillance. 

The  comparative  morbidity  of  the  clandestine 
and  the  registered  prostitutes  has  been  very  much 
discussed.  As  a  rule,  all  supporters  of  regulation 
are  agreed  that  the  clandestine  prostitute  is  far 
more  likely  to  be  diseased  than  the  registered 
prostitute.  The  opponents  of  regulation  hold  the 
opposite  view.  The  former  party  seem  to  have  the 
better  facts  to  support  their  contention. 

One  way  of  proving  the  dangerous  character  of 
clandestine  prostitution  is  to  make  inquiries  as  to 
the  source  of  contagion  of  men  afflicted  with 
venereal  disease.  But  little  information  of  value 
can  be  obtained  in  this  way,  since  the  patient  is 
often  uncertain  as  to  which  one  of  a  number  of 
prostitutes  may  have  infected  him.  Again,  if  he 


Practical  Difficulties  87 

knows  it,  he  may  refuse  to  designate  the  person, 
since  that  would  render  her  liable  to  arrest.  More- 
over, since  the  clandestine  are  held  to  be  not  quite 
so  low  as  the  registered  prostitutes,  many  men  will 
give  false  information  out  of  a  species  of  pride. 

But  even  if  it  could  be  certainly  known  how 
great  the  number  infected  by  each  class,  no  really 
valid  comparison  could  be  made,  because  no  one 
knows  the  exact  number  of  clandestine  prostitutes. 

A  second  way  is  to  compare  the  state  of  health 
of  the  clandestine  prostitutes  who  are  arrested  and 
examined  with  that  of  the  registered  prostitutes. 
This,  too,  can  give  no  certain  information,  since 
those  who  are  arrested  are  but  a  fraction  of  the 
total  number,  and  may  not  be  fairly  representative 
of  it  at  all.  Such  as  it  is,  however,  it  is  the  only 
empirical  evidence  of  any  value  that  is  attainable. 
This  seems  to  be  decidedly  against  the  clandestine. 
From  1872  to  1888,  the  sanitary  service  of  Paris 
examined  45,577  registered  prostitutes  and  47,340 
clandestine.  The  average  morbidity  of  the  clan- 
destine was  31.65%;  that  of  the  registered  13.47%. x 

No  separation  of  the  various  diseases  is  here 
made.  It  is  generally  claimed  that  the  comparative 
proportion  of  syphilis  alone  is  much  more  favour- 
able to  the  registered.  This  is  what  one  would 
expect,  since  gonorrhoea  does  not  carry  immunity 
with  it,  as  does  syphilis,  and  hence  may  be  as 

'Augagneur,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports 
Preliminaires,  i.,  65  et  seq. 


88  The  Social  Evil 

common  among  the  older  prostitutes  as  among  the 
younger. 

Older  authorities  on  prostitution  try  to  estab- 
lish the  comparative  morbidity  from  the  number 
of  examinations  in  which  disease  is  discovered. 
This  is,  of  course,  a  wholly  absurd  procedure.  The 
registered  prostitute  who  is  diseased  is  removed  to 
the  hospital  and  ceases  to  figure  in  the  statistics 
of  examinations  until  she  is  cured,  when  she  again 
helps  to  swell  the  number  of  examinations  in  which 
no  disease  is  found.  Whenever  figures  are  cited 
showing  that  the  clandestine  are  ten  or  twenty  or 
fifty  times  as  dangerous  as  the  registered,  one  may 
be  certain  that  this  astonishing  fallacy  is  chiefly 
responsible  for  them. 

From  such  facts  as  we  have,  we  may,  however, 
conclude  that  the  more  dangerous  prostitutes, 
from  the  sanitary  point  of  view,  are  those  who 
cannot  be  subjected  to  sanitary  control. 

It  remains  to  consider  how  far  that  fraction  of 
prostitution  which  can  actually  be  brought  under 
sanitary  control  is  really  rendered  innocuous. 
This  is,  of  course,  a  question  for  medical  specialists 
to  discuss  rather  than  for  laymen.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the  layman  to 
know  what  conclusions  the  specialists  have  reached. 

It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  the  dis- 
cussion of  this  question  has  taken  an  altogether 
new  turn  in  late  years.  Twenty  years  ago  it  was 
only  the  moralist,  who  knew  nothing  of  medicine, 


Practical  Difficulties  89 

who  dared  to  connect  venereal  disease  with  re- 
gistered prostitution.  It  is  difficult  to  find  a  single 
competent  writer  of  the  present  day  who  does  not 
deplore  the  imperfections  of  the  system  as  it 
exists,  and  who  does  not  admit  that  registered 
prostitutes  are  responsible  for  a  vast  amount  of 
venereal  infection. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  universally  agreed  that 
the  manner  of  inspection  is  imperfect.  In  many 
places  the  inspection  has  to  take  place  under  cir- 
cumstances that  preclude  the  possibility  of  scien- 
tific accuracy.  The  apparatus  needed  is  often 
wanting ;  the  physicians  appointed  for  the  work  are 
far  too  much  overworked,  and  they  are  not  men  who 
have  been  specially  trained  for  it.  Consequently, 
many  of  the  prostitutes  who  are  dismissed  with  the 
official  stamp  of  good  health  are  capable  of  trans- 
mitting contagion.  Cases  are  frequent  where  men 
who  have  accompanied  them  from  the  dispensary 
have  been  infected  with  venereal  disease.1 

These  deficiencies,  it  would  seem,  are  almost 
entirely  due  to  lack  of  necessary  funds.  This  is 
clearly  the  case  with  the  imperfection  of  apparatus. 
The  same  reason  explains  the  needless  haste  with 
which  examinations  are  made.  By  methods  known 

1  According  to  Carlier,  there  are  frequently  groups  of  cautious  in- 
dividuals prowling  about  the  doors  of  the  dispensary,  waiting  to  ac- 
company those  who  have  been  found  by  the  physician  to  be  in  good 
health.  It  is  hard  to  characterise  the  immorality  of  a  system  that 
wantonly  deludes  men  of  such  exemplary  prudence!  What  wonder 
that  the  doctors  are  sometimes  threatened  with  assassination. 


90  The  Social  Evil 

to  modern  science,  gonorrhoea  is  practically  always 
capable  of  being  established.1  The  diagnosis  of 
syphilis  has  never  been  especially  difficult. 

But  the  expense  that  the  needed  changes  would 
involve  would  be  considerable.  Strohmberg  thinks 
that  one  physician  could  manage  four  hundred 
prostitutes.  Finger  would  place  fifty  only  under 
each  physician.  Other  authorities  are  inclined  to 
require  fewer  physicians  than  Finger,  but  more 
than  Strohmberg. 

If  we  suppose  that  each  physician  could  ade- 
quately examine  and  treat  one  hundred  prostitutes, 
it  is  plain  that  the  cost  would  not  be  light.  Tn 
Paris,  with  six  thousand  registered  prostitutes,  sixty 
physicians  would  be  needed  instead  of  twenty-four. 
It  is  true  that  at  Paris  the  salaries  of  professional 
men  are  ridiculously  low,  so  that  the  charge  would 
not  weigh  very  heavily  upon  the  budget.  But  if 
New  York  were  to  adopt  a  system  of  reglementation, 
controlling  four  or  five  thousand  prostitutes  (and 
few  would  advocate  a  system  which  should  control 
less),  the  expense  would  be  a  matter  of  no  small 
importance.  The  services  of  forty  or  fifty  specialists 
could  not  be  secured  at  a  trifling  cost. 

To  be  sure,  this  point  would  not  have  much 
importance  in  the  case  of  some  other  branch  of 
sanitary  service.  But  it  must  always  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  great  body  of  taxpayers  would  bear 

1  Kromayer  and  a  number  of  other  authorities  deny  this. — Con- 
ference Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Communications,  i.;  Appendix,  26. 


Practical  Difficulties  91 

with  very  ill  grace  an  expense  created  by  other 
men's  profligacy. 

It  is  frequently  suggested  that  by  a  system  of 
charges  for  examination,  a  sanitary  bureau  may 
be  made  self-supporting.1  Against  the  plan  is  the 
unanswerable  argument  of  one  hundred  years  of 
experience.  Every  city  which  has  adopted  sanitary 
control  at  first  attempted  to  meet  expenses  in  this 
way;  and  every  large  city  has  found  that  the  plan 
works  execrably.  The  most  difficult  part  of  a  sys- 
tem of  control  is  to  induce  prostitutes  to  submit  to 
it  voluntarily;  and  every  burden  imposed  upon 
them  will  deter  them  from  doing  so.  Accordingly, 
it  has  been  suggested  that  those  who  do  submit 
should  receive  a  pension;  nor  is  the  suggestion 
unworthy  of  consideration,  if  sanitary  control  is 
to  be  adopted.  It  is  time  for  every  one  to  disil- 
lusion himself  of  the  idea  that  the  expenses  of  a 
system  of  regulation  can  be  met  from  any  other 
source  than  general  taxation. 

The  second  charge  is  that  examinations  do  not 
take  place  at  sufficiently  frequent  intervals.  In 
Paris,  excepting  for  the  relatively  small  number 
of  inmates  of  licensed  houses,  examinations  are 
theoretically  made  every  two  weeks.  As  a  fact, 
many  delay  their  visit  to  the  dispensary,  so  that 
the  average  time  is  longer.  In  Berlin,  according 
to  regulations,  examinations  are  made  weekly.  In 

xThis  view  is  advanced  by  Dr.  F.  R.  Sturgis,  in  Medicine,  June, 
1901. 


92  The  Social  Evil 

practice,  the  average  number  of  examinations  per 
annum  is  twenty-six.1  In  St.  Petersburg,  in  1893, 
the  average  number  for  prostitutes  at  large  was 
twenty-seven;  in  Moscow,  in  the  same  year,  it 
was  only  four.2 

Of  course,  whatever  good  regulation  may  do 
must  be  greatly  diminished  when  examinations  are 
so  infrequent.  Disease  may  reach  the  contagious 
form  soon  after  inspection  and  may  be  freely 
transmitted  for  two  weeks  or  longer.  The  reasons 
why  such  a  state  of  affairs  exists  are  chiefly  admin- 
istrative. The  examination  is  exceedingly  irksome 
to  the  prostitute ;  and  if  it  be  made  very  frequent, 
she  will  do  her  best  to  evade  control  altogether. 
Were  not  this  difficulty  real,  we  may  be  certain 
that  semi-weekly  examinations  would  long  ago 
have  been  instituted  in  all  Continental  cities. 

The  difficulty  is  much  less  in  the  case  of  the 
inmates  of  licensed  houses.  They  cannot  escape 
the  examiner.  This  is  one  of  the  main  reasons  why 
the  licensed  house  is  so  much  favoured  by  the 
police,  in  spite  of  its  moral  defects.  But  the  spirit 
of  the  times  makes  it  impossible  to  confine  any 
large  part  of  the  prostitutes  in  licensed  houses. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  difficulty  which  seems  to 
be  insurmountable.  After  a  hundred  years  of 
experience,  and  with  practically  unlimited  power 
to  deal  with  prostitution  as  it  will,  the  most  perfect 

1  Blaschko,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enqueues,  i.,  671. 
a  Sturmer,  op.  ciL,  12 1. 


Practical  Difficulties  93 

of  police  administrations,  that  of  Paris,  is  mani- 
festly unable  to  cope  with  it. 

Under  this  head  there  is  one  further  subtraction 
to  be  made  from  the  efficacy  of  regulation.  The 
prostitute  who  discovers  herself  infected  is  natur- 
ally in  no  haste  to  go  to  the  dispensary,  knowing, 
as  she  does,  that  weeks,  perhaps  months,  of  con- 
finement will  follow.  Instead,  she  lingers  as  long 
as  possible,  or  even  disappears  from  her  accus- 
tomed haunts  and  plies  her  vocation  as  a  clandes- 
tine prostitute.  She  may  be  retaken  by  the  police, 
and  is  subject  to  imprisonment  after  her  recovery. 
But  the  future  penalty  does  not  outweigh  the 
present  prospect  of  being  sent  to  the  hospital.1 

1  Of  391  licensed  prostitutes  at  large  who  were  infected  with  syphilis, 
74  per  cent,  were  sent  to  the  hospital  in  consequence  of  arrests  made 
by  the  police.  Of  course,  they  would  not  have  gone  at  once  had  they 
not  been  arrested. — Le  Pileur,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels, 
1899;  Rapports  Preliminaires,  3me  Question,  71. 

It  may  be  of  interest  here  to  note  the  number  of  prostitutes  who 
attempt  to  escape  from  control,  and  the  number  retaken  by  the  police. 
Total  number  Restored  to 

registered.          Disappeared.  control. 

1888  4591  1779  1491 

1889  4951  2125  1309 

1890  4770  1555  1234 

1891  5015  1450  821 

1892  5004  1436  869 

1893  4793  "21  739 

1894  5154  794  616 

1895  5790  1456  494 

1896  5900  1190  615 

1897  5233  1599  454 

1898  6018  344  498 

— Louis   Fiaux,    Conference   Internationale,   Brussels,    1899;   Rapports 
Preliminaires,  2me  Question,  121. 


94  The  Social  Evil 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  generally  admitted  that 
the  treatment  is  not  sufficiently  prolonged  to  cure 
the  maladies  discovered;  that  as  a  rule,  in  case  of 
syphilis,  the  prostitute  is  dismissed  from  the 
hospital  while  quite  capable  of  transmitting  the 
disease.  The  external  appearance  of  the  disease 
is  made  to  vanish;  the  disease  remains.  As  a 
French  writer  has  put  it,  the  prostitutes  are  white- 
washed, not  cured.  This  is  pretty  largely  the  case 
with  gonorrhoea  also.  For  the  first  two  or  three 
years,  the  syphilitic  may  at  any  time  transmit 
disease ;  gonorrhoea,  if  not  completely  cured,  may 
be  transmitted  for  an  indefinite  period.  To  cure 
the  latter  malady  completely,  several  months  of 
treatment  may  be  required;  it  is  still  a  disputed 
point  whether  or  not  there  is  not  a  large  proportion 
of  women  infected  with  it  who  can  never  be  cured 
at  all.1 

The  question  arises  whether  this  can  be  remedied. 
From  a  practical  point  of  view,  it  is  hard  to  see 
how  it  can.  It  is  out  of  the  question  to  detain  all 
the  prostitutes  with  latent  syphilis  in  the  hospital 

5609  prostitutes  thus  "  disappeared  "•  definitely  in  the  eleven  years. 
Of  course  many  reasons  besides  desire  to  escape  the  hospital  must 
have  operated;  but  no  one  can  doubt  that  many  disappeared  in  order 
to  prostitute  themselves  clandestinely  either  in  Paris  or  in  other  cities, 
carrying  disease  with  them. 

1  Kromayer  makes  this  contention.  Jadassohn,  on  the  other  hand, 
claims  that  in  most  cases  it  may  be  cured  if  time  enough  be  given. 
But  he  frankly  states  that  it  is  merely  an  opinion,  and  admits  that  it 
is  not  as  yet  proven.  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rap- 
ports  Preliminaires,  2me  Question,  41. 


Practical  Difficulties  95 

until  the  two-  or  three-year  period  of  contagion  is 
over.  Tarnowsky,  Jadassohn,  Finger,  and  a  host 
of  other  medical  men  suggest  the  erection  of 
asylums  where  they  may  be  confined,  and  where  the 
women  afflicted  with  exceptionally  stubborn  cases 
of  gonorrhoea  may  be  kept. 

According  to  Finger,  about  25%  of  all  licensed 
prostitutes  are  in  the  highly  contagious  stage  of 
latent  syphilis.  From  this  we  may  form  an  esti- 
mate as  to  the  practicability  of  the  asylum  scheme. 
In  our  hypothetical  system  of  regulation  in  New 
York,  we  should  constantly  have  from  1000  to  1500 
persons  serving  two-  and  three-year  terms  in  a 
species  of  health  reformatory.  We  should  also 
have  a  considerable  number  under  indeterminate 
sentence  for  gonorrhoea, — a  sentence  which  would 
in  some  cases  expire  only  when  old  age  should 
render  the  woman  innocuous.  The  question  of  the 
costs  at  once  looms  up.  But,  quite  apart  from  that, 
the  plan  is  absurd,  for  no  prostitute  would  submit 
to  an  examination  that  might  lead  to  such  con- 
sequences, if  she  could  by  any  possible  means 
escape  it.  Voluntary  inscription  would  be  un- 
thinkable, and  the  difficulties  of  official  inscription 
would  be  immeasurably  increased. 

There  is  a  minor  factor  that  may  be  taken  into 
account  before  we  leave  the  question  of  the  safety 
of  regulated  prostitution.  The  question  has  often 
been  raised, — generally  by  laymen,  it  is  true, — 
whether  contagion  is  not  frequently  mediate.  When 


96  The  Social  Evil 

it  is  remembered  how  frequently  a  low-class 
prostitute  performs  the  same  office,  it  would  seem 
reasonable  that  some  of  her  patrons  "may  receive 
the  virus  of  disease  indirectly  from  others.  This 
has  been  adduced  to  explain  the  alleged  fact  that 
cases  of  disease  traceable  to  inmates  of  licensed 
houses  are  likely  to  be  more  frequent,  propor- 
tionately, than  those  originating  with  the  isolated 
but  registered  prostitutes,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  former  may  show  a  smaller  percentage1  of 
disease. 

It  may  be  seen,  then,  that  many  subtractions 
from  the  ideal  of  sanitary  control  must  be  made 
before  we  reach  the  actual  efficiency  of  existing  and 
practicable  regulation.  If,  as  seems  reasonable, 
a  system  of  regulation  encourages  indulgence  to  a 
certain  extent,  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  a 
further  subtraction. 

If,  however,  the  small  sanitary  good  that  is  due 
to  reglementation  were  a  permanent  acquisition  of 
society,  much  might  be  said  for 'the  system.  If 
venereal  disease  might  in  this  manner  be  dimin- 
ished, little  by  little,  through  the  generations,  it 
might  be  seriously  considered  whether  the  grave 
present  costs  ought  not  to  be  assumed.  As  a  fact, 
so  long  as  diseased  patrons  of  prostitution  are 
permitted  to  transmit  their  maladies  without  re- 
straint, practically  no  permanent  improvement  is 
to  be  expected.  A  brief  relaxation  of  sanitary  con- 
trol would  restore  exactly  the  conditions  prevail- 


Practical  Difficulties  97 

ing  before  its  institution,  provided  the  moral  habits 
of  the  community  remained  unchanged.  In  under- 
taking one-sided  regulation,  society  takes  upon 
itself  a  burden  which  it  can  never  lay  down  with- 
out losing  every  advantage  gained  by  its  assump- 
tion. 

This  fact  has  led  to  the  demand  that  all  visitors 
of  prostitutes  should  be  subjected  to  sanitary 
inspection.  The  scheme  is  obviously  impracticable, 
since  such  inspection  could  take  place  only  in  the 
brothel.  If  physical  examination  were  required 
of  visitors  of  licensed  brothels .  the  licensed  brothel 
would  disappear  for  want  of  patronage,  and  iso- 
lated and  clandestine  prostitution  would  take  its 
place. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE     ACTUAL     EFFECTIVENESS     OF     SANITARY 
CONTROL 

SINCE  the  system  of  sanitary  control  of  prosti- 
tution has  been  tried  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  and 
since  it  has  in  some  cities  been  consistently  applied 
for  over  a  century,  one  would  naturally  expect  to 
find  statistical  proof  of  its  effectiveness  in  pre- 
venting venereal  disease. 

In  attempting  to  establish  the  usefulness  of 
sanitary  control,  comparisons  of  morbidity  have 
been  made  between  cities  subject  to  regulation  and 
cities  in-  which  regulation  does  not  exist ;  secondly, 
comparisons  of  morbidity  before  and  after  the 
introduction  or  abolition  of  regulation  have  been 
made;  and  thirdly,  a  study  has  been  made  of  the 
comparative  frequency  of  disease  in  cities  and 
countries  where  severity  of  control  has  varied.1 

The  third  method  is,  of  course,  the  most  doubt- 
ful of  all.  The  degree  of  severity  of  control  is  a 
mere  matter  of  opinion ;  the  frequency  of  venereal 

1  Blaschko,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports 
Preliminaires,  ire  Question,  76. 

98 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control        99 

disease  in  the  general  population  is  also  pretty 
much  a  matter  of  opinion.  If  we  could  rely 
implicitly  upon  the  fairness  of  the  men  who  furnish 
these  opinions,  we  could  still  attach  little  import- 
ance to  them.  Under  present  circumstances,  there 
are  very  few  who  are  not  prejudiced  either  against 
regulation  or  in  favour  of  it.  Still,  we  may  cite  the 
eminent  Russian  physician,  Sturmer,  as  authority 
for  the  statement  that  in  Russian  cities,  when 
the  control  is  relaxed,  disease  increases,  and  the 
reverse.1 

Of  little  value,  if  any,  is  the  comparison  of 
morbidity  in  different  cities.  The  amount  of  dis- 
ease may  vary  for  reasons  quite  independent  of 
the  system  of  control,  since  the  extent  to  which 
men  indulge  in  vicious  pleasures  depends  largely 
upon  their  resources,  upon  the  moral  tone  of  the 
community,  and  upon  the  number  and  character 
of  those  who  offer  such  pleasures  for  sale.  More- 
over, the  possibility  of  knowing  the  exact  amount 
of  venereal  disease  varies  from  city  to  city.  Accord- 
ingly, unless  there  is  an  exceedingly  marked  differ- 
ence in  respect  to  disease,  unless  it  may  be  shown 
to  be  exceedingly  prevalent  in  one  place  and  almost 
absent  in  another,  it  is  impossible  to  demonstrate 
the  influence  of  regulation  in  this  way.  As  a  fact, 
no  reputable  author  would  venture  to  affirm  that 
venereal  disease  is  more  frequent  in  London  or 

1  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Compte  Rendu,  ire  Ques- 
tion, 40. 


ioo  The  Social  Evil 

New  York  than  in  Paris  or  Berlin.  Assertions 
based  upon  a  priori  reasons  are  frequent  enough, 
but  they  stand  or  fall  with  the  reasoning  upon 
which  they  are  based. 

Accordingly,  it  is  upon  statistics  of  morbidity 
for  a  period  before  and  after  the  introduction  or 
the  abolition  of  regulation  that  we  must  rely,  if  we 
are  to  get  statistical  proof  at  all.  Even  here  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  note  many  sources  of  error.  Excepting 
in  Norway,  only  a  fraction  of  the  actual  number 
of  cases  of  disease  fall  under  official  observation. 
From  the  reports  of  public  hospitals  and  from 
statistics  of  disease  in  the  army  and  navy,  it  is 
necessary  to  infer  the  extent  of  venereal  maladies 
in  the  general  population.  But  many  causes  in- 
fluence the  number  of  those  who  apply  for  admis- 
sion to  the  public  hospital.  An  economic  crisis,  for 
example,  might  compel  some  to  seek  admission 
who,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would  be 
treated  by  private  physicians.  If  military  service 
is  compulsory,  statistics  for  the  entire  army  will 
show  with  some  fidelity  the  curve  of  disease  in  the 
whole  country.  But  if  service  is  voluntary,  dis- 
ease will  vary  with  the  class  of  men  who  enlist, 
and  that  will  in  turn  be  affected  by  economic  and 
social  causes  too  numerous  to  mention.  Changes 
may  take  place  in  the  quality  of  medical  skill,  so 
that  cases  of  disease  not  counted  at  one  period  will 
figure  in  the  statistics  of  another.  Moreover,  it  is 
a  well-known  fact  that  venereal  disease  is  subject 


WSTITUTIOR 

FOR 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control      101 

to  great  fluctuations,  the  causes  of  which  are  not 
sufficiently  known.  These  fluctuations,  while  of- 
ten extending  over  a  great  part  of  Europe,  vary 
in  degree  from  place  to  place.  The  effect  of  such 
fluctuations  upon  the  statistical  problem  is  ob- 
vious. A  "spontaneous"  oscillation,  coinciding 
in  time  with  the  introduction  or  abolition  of 
regulation,  may  greatly  accentuate  or  may  alto- 
gether neutralise  the  effect  of  the  change.1 

Such  is  the  gravity  of  this  source  of  error  that 
so  conservative  a  writer  as  Blaschko  declares  that 
in  consequence  of  it  the  results  of  regulation, 
whatever  they  may  be,  either  do  not  appear  at  all, 
or  appear  very  indistinctly. 

Nevertheless,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  devote 
a  brief  space  to  such  statistics  as  are  most  often 
cited  in  proof  of  various  theses.  The  English 
venereal  statistics  may  be  taken  first,  as  they  are 
the  best  known,  and  have  frequently  been  com- 
pared with  the  results  of  a  laboratory  experiment. 

By  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  put  into 
effect  in  1866,  twelve  districts  in  England  and  two 
in  Ireland,  chosen  on  account  of  the  number  of 
soldiers  and  sailors  stationed  there  and  on  account 
of  the  prevalence  of  venereal  disease,  were  sub- 
jected to  a  system  of  regulation,  modelled,  so  far 
as  its  sanitary  features  were  concerned,  after  the 

1  Report  on  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  1882,  x.  Conference  Interna- 
tionale, Brussels,  1899;  Rapports  Preliminaires,  ire  Question,  Augagneur, 
61 ;  Enqu&tes,  i.,  Ehlers,  106;  Enqudtes,  ii.,  Annexe,  Tommasoli,  39. 


102  The  Social  Evil 

Continental  systems.  In  1883  the  Acts  were 
suspended.  Accordingly,  it  is  possible  to  study 
the  effect  upon  the  army  both  of  the  introduction 
and  of  the  abrogation  of  the  Acts.  In  order  to 
eliminate,  as  far  as  possible,  the  influence  of  the 
periodic  oscillations  of  disease,  the  parliamentary 
reporters  compared  with  the  venereal  statistics 
of  the  fourteen  subjected  stations  those  of  all 
unsubjected  stations. 

Primary  Sores.  Secondary  Syphilis.  Gonorrhoea. 
Stations 

not              Stations  Not  Not 

Subjected.     Subjected.  Subjected.  Subjected.  Subjected.  Subjected. 

Per  1000  Men. 

I86I-I866            103                109.7  30.7  37.4  108.2            I25.I 

1867-1872              93.6              65.4  29.2  24.6  105.4            114.6 

Decline              9%          40%  5%  34%  3%            8% 

1860-1863         116.3         129.8  30.5  40  116.1          134-6 

1870-1873           86              52.5  27.5  20.3  95            106.6 

Decline           26%          60%  10%  49%  18%          24%' 

The  first  impression  created  by  these  figures  is 
that  a  very  considerable  reduction  in  disease  is 
due  to  the  Acts.  But  even  a  superficial  examina- 
tion is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  figures  are 
deceptive. 

Under  primary  sores  are  included  both  primary 
syphilis  and  ulcus  molle.  The  latter  disease,  being 
easily  discovered  and  easily  cured  when  found, 
would  naturally  be  the  first  to  yield  to  sanitary 
control.2 

1  Report,  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  1882,  xi.-xiv. 
3  "Prostitutes   may   conceal   gonorrhoea,   and   physicians   are   not 
always  able  to  determine  whether  or  not  a  person  is  infected  with  syphi- 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control      103 

It  would  be  of  the  highest  practical  importance 
to  know  how  far  the  improvement  in  the  subjected 
stations  was  due  to  the  diminution  in  this  form  of 
disease.  Few  would  advocate  a  system  of  regu- 
lation if  its  chief  result  were  merely  to  eliminate 
that  comparatively  harmless  malady. 

The  figures  for  secondary  syphilis  are  no  longer 
considered  of  any  particular  importance,  since  it 
is  impossible  to  say  where  the  primary  syphilis, 
of  which  the  secondary  is  a  result,  was  contracted. 
The  parliamentary  reporters  argue  that  in  the 
shifting  about  of  troops,  fewer  cases  of  latent 
syphilis  left  the  subjected  districts  than  were 
brought  to  them,  assuming  that  there  is  a  constant 
ratio  between  the  number  of  cases  of  secondary 
syphilis  and  that  of  primary,  and  assuming  that 
primary  syphilis  was  less  common  in  the  subjected 
stations.  The  first  of  these  assumptions  is  not 
exactly  true,  and  the  second  is  not  proven,  owing 
to  the  grouping  of  cases  of  the  two  kinds  of  disease. 
In  default  of  actual  proof  as  to  the  decline  of 
primary  syphilis,  the  statistics  for  secondary 
syphilis  are  devoid  of  all  significance. 

The  decline  in  gonorrhoea  is  too  slight  to  be  of 
much  importance.  Even  if  such  a  decline  were 
demonstrably  due  to  regulation,  one  would  hardly 

lis;  but  ulcus  molle  will  always  be  discovered  if  regulation  is  efficient. 
Consequently,  regulation  will  always  have  an  influence  upon  ulcus 
molle.  With  a  good  system  it  may  become  rare,  and  may  even  disap- 
pear." — Reimers,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Compte 
Rendu,  ii.,  ire  Question,  96, 


104  The  Social  Evil 

find  in  it  much  of  an  argument  for  the  introduction 
of  a  system  of  regulation.1  Accordingly,  all  that 
is  proved  by  the  statistics  of  disease  during  the 
existence  of  the  Acts  is  that  a  reduction  in  primary 
lesions  was  effected.  This  is  shown  conclusively, 
it  would  appear,  by  a  comparison  of  the  curve  of 
primary  sores  in  the  fourteen  subjected  stations 
and  the  curve  for  fourteen  unsubjected  stations 
chosen  for  the  sake  of  comparison. 

But  even  if  we  grant  that  a  decline  in  primary 
syphilis  took  place,  it  still  remains  a  question 
whether  any  light  is  thrown  upon  the  problem  of 
reglementation  in  large  cities.  Most  of  the  sta- 
tions selected  for  the  English  experiment  were 
towns  and  small  cities.  A  moment's  reflection 
will  show  that  in  such  places  the  possibility  of 
compelling  all  prostitutes  to  comply  with  the 
regulations  is  infinitely  greater  than  in  the  great 
city.  Clandestine  prostitution  can  thrive  only  in 
great  centres  of  population. 

In  a  civil  population,  it  seems  reasonable  that 
a  general  belief  in  the  safety  of  prostitution  will 
increase  the  patronage  of  vice,  and  thus  neutralise 
to  a  certain  extent  whatever  sanitary  benefit  may 
be  due  to  control.  In  an  army,  the  effect  would 
probably  be  less  marked,  since  soldiers  are  gen- 
erally men  whose  habits  are  already  formed,  and 
who  do  not  usually  look  upon  venereal  diseases 

1  Kromayer,  after  a  detailed  study  of  the  English  statistics,  con- 
cludes that  gonorrhoea  was  not  really  affected  at  all  by  the  Acts. 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control      105 

with  as  much  fear  as  does  the  civilian.  Accord- 
ingly, there  is  reason  to  look  for  a  much  greater 
improvement  in  the  health  of  an  army,  as  a  result 
of  regulation,  than  in  the  health  of  the  general 
population. 

Norwegian  statistics  would  seem  to  give  more 
useful  information  than  do  those  of  England.  In 
1888  regulation  was  abolished  for  all  of  Norway 
excepting  Bergen  and  Trondhjem.  From  the 
figures  of  Hoist,  it  appears  that  immediately  after 
the  abolition  of  regulation  a  rise  in  the  number  of 
cases  of  venereal  disease  took  place  for  all  Norway.1 

The  statistics  for  Norway  present,  however, 
the  same  flaw  that  impairs  the  value  of  the  English 
statistics.  They  do  not  enable  us  to  know  how 
far  syphilis  alone  increased  after  the  abolition  of 
regulation.  Moreover,  we  cannot  be  certain  that 
cases  of  disease  were  as  carefully  reported  before 
1888  as  after  that  year.  In  these  respects  the 
statistics  for  the  city  of  Christiania  are  far  more 
satisfactory.  The  curve  of  disease  indicates  that 
after  the  abolition  of  regulation,  all  three  forms  of 
venereal  disease  increased.  The  increase  is  partic- 
ularly marked  in  the  case  of  gonorrhoea.2  This 
is  somewhat  surprising,  since  both  a  priori  reasons 
and  the  facts  of  experience  would  lead  one  to 
expect  a  more  radical  change  in  the  curve  of  ulcus 
molle,  at  least,  than  in  that  of  gonorrhoea. 

1  Hoist,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  EnquStes,  i.,  128. 
3  Ibid.,  126, 


io6  The  Social  Evil 

The  rise,  however,  is  by  no  means  such  an 
extraordinary  one  as  would  be  expected  by  those 
who  look  upon  reglementation  as  the  solution  of 
the  sanitary  problem.  Moreover,  it  is  a  question 
whether  there  were  not  other  forces  at  work  which 
tended  to  increase  the  volume  of  disease.  From 
1879  to  1888  the  population  of  Christiania  increased 
from  116,801  to  138,319.  By  1898  the  population 
had  increased  to  about  220,000.  The  average 
annual  increase  for  the  former  period  was  less  than 
2200;  for  the  latter,  about  8200.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  the  more  rapid  the  growth  of  a 
city  is,  the  greater  the  proportion  of  young  and 
unmarried  men  and  the  greater  the  relative 
volume  of  vice  will  be,  it  does  not  seem  unreason- 
able that  an  increase  in  disease  would  have  taken 
place  even  if  reglementation  had  not  been  abolished. 

It  is  also  a  question  whether  1888  did  not 
introduce  a  period  of  spontaneous  increase  in 
venereal  disease.  The  general  oscillations  of 
disease  are  not  confined  to  any  single  country. 
Now,  the  nearest  culminating  point  of  syphilis  in 
Copenhagen  was  in  1886,  corresponding  with  a 
similar  point  in  Christiania  in  1882.  In  Copen- 
hagen there  was  an  abrupt  descent  of  the  curve  of 
syphilis,  reaching  the  lowest  point  in  1892,  then 
rising  again.1 

At  Lyons,  a  decline  from  1883  to  1888  was 
followed  by  an  increase  from  1889  to  1893.  At 

1  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enquetes,  i.,  106. 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control      107 

Paris,  a  decrease  from  1883  to  1888  was  followed 
by  an  increase.  In  Colmar,  the  decline  continued 
from  1882  to  1887,  followed  by  an  increase  in 
1888  and  i889.r  In  the  Italian  army,  a  decline 
from  1 88 1  to  1888  was  followed  by  an  increase. 
Augagneur  states  that,  for  about  the  same  period, 
the  same  thing  is  true  of  the  French  and  English 
armies.  Accordingly,  it  is  an  open  question 
whether  the  increase  that  followed  the  abolition 
of  regulation  in  Norway  was  due  to  it. 

In  Italy,  a  system  of  regulation  which  had  been 
in  force  for  about  thirty  years  was  abolished, 
nominally,  in  1888.  As  a  fact,  the  ministry  did 
everything  possible  to  discredit  abolition.  Statis- 
tics were  collected  and  abused  especially  to  that 
end.  Moreover,  the  sanitary  regulations  were  still 
enforced  in  many  cities,  in  spite  of  the  law. 
Accordingly,  the  statistics  of  Italy  are  worthless, 
so  far  as  showing  the  effect  of  regulation  is  con- 
cerned.2 The  statistics  of  the  Italian  army  show 
that  after  1888  an  increase  in  venereal  disease  did 
actually  take  place.  But  it  cannot  be  demon- 
strated that  the  increase  was  due  to  the  "aboli- 
tion" of  regulation.  It  was  just  as  probably  in 
part  or  wholly  due  to  "spontaneous"  oscillation. 

The  statistics  of  isolated  cities  or  towns  which 
have  adopted  or  discontinued  sanitary  control  are 

'Augagneur,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Rapports 
Preliminaires,  ire  Question,  61. 

2  Tommasoli,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Enqudtes, 
ii.,  Annexe. 


io8  The  Social  Evil 

sometimes  cited  as  proof  of  the  efficacy  of  regula- 
tion. It  is  obvious  that  such  statistics  can  be  of 
little  value,  unless  the  city  is  a  great  one,  and 
unless  the  system  is  enforced  for  a  number  of 
years.  Upon  the  introduction  of  a  system  of  con- 
trol, it  is  the  most  natural  thing  for  prostitutes 
who  know  they  are  diseased  to  move  to  another 
town.  It  is  only  by  degrees  that  they  learn  that 
it  is  possible  to  evade  regulations  that  are  incon- 
venient for  them.  Undoubtedly,  such  emigration 
would  have  an  immediate  salutary  effect  upon  the 
city  from  which  they  go.  The  effect  upon  the 
country  as  a  whole  is,  however,  practically  nil. 
The  experience  of  Colmar,  a  small  city  in  Upper 
Alsace,  and  of  Glasgow,  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  a  policy  of  absolute  repression  would  have  the 
same  effect.  It  is  unfortunate  that  we  have  no 
reliable  statistics  for  a  great  city  which  has  intro- 
duced a  really  scientific  system  of  regulation.  For 
a  small  city,  the  town  of  Dorpat  in  Livonia  has 
probably  been  more  successful  in  making  a  good 
showing  than  any  other.  That  city  had  always 
been  noted  for  the  severity  of  venereal  disease, 
and  was  considered  especially  dangerous  as  a 
station  for  troops.  In  1898,  after  three  years  of 
really  efficient  regulation,  the  commandant  of  the 
garrison  reported  that  not  one  of  the  thousand 
men  stationed  there  had  contracted  primary 
syphilis  during  the  year.1 

1  Strohmberg,  op.  cit.,  206. 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control       109 

The  most  absurdly  imperfect  experiment  upon 
which  arguments  were  ever  based  was  that  of  St. 
Louis,  from  1870-1874.  According  to  this  regu- 
lation, the  city  was  divided  into  six  districts.  One 
physician  in  each  district  was  to  visit  the  houses 
of  prostitution  and  the  apartments  where  isolated 
prostitutes  lived,  and  might  make  physical  exam- 
inations if  he  thought  it  necessary.  It  is  easy  to 
imagine  how  much  chance  there  was  of  detecting 
disease  under  such  a  system  of  regulation.  The 
claim  has  been  made  that  the  number  of  pro- 
stitutes diminished,  as  well  it  may  have  done,  since 
many  prostitutes  would  prefer  other  cities,  where 
they  were  free,  to  one  in  which  they  were  taxed 
and  controlled.  It  has  been  claimed  by  some  that 
venereal  disease  diminished;  by  others,  that  it 
increased;  neither  claim  being  supported  by  facts 
worth  anything.  For  all  any  one  knows,  disease 
may  have  decreased  or  it  may  have  increased. 
Whatever  the  change  in  morbidity,  such  regula- 
tions can  hardly  be  credited  with  it. 

In  view  of  the  above  considerations,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  the  enlightened  supporters  as  well  as 
the  enlightened  opponents  of  reglementation  are 
practically  agreed  upon  rejecting  such  statistics 
as  we  have  at  present,  preferring  to  rely  upon  a 
priori  reasoning  and  common-sense.1 

1  "  It  is  a  long  time  that  I  have  studied  statistics.  Well,  I  do  not 
believe  that  there  are  any  that  are  of  value." — Fournier,  Conference 
Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Compte  Rendu,  ire  Question,  29. 


no  The  Social  Evil 

If  it  were  true  that  the  enormous  sanitary  im- 
provements that  the  supporters  of  regulation 
expect  from  it  could  be  realised,  or  if  regulation 
brought  about  the  thoroughgoing  demoralisation 
that  its  opponents  dread,  statistics,  imperfect  as 
they  are,  would  show  it.  But  since  the  influence, 
whatever  it  may  be,  is  comparatively  slight, 
statistics  cannot  possibly  establish  it  beyond  cavil. 

It  is,  then,  upon  common-sense  that  one  is 
compelled  to  rely  in  deciding  whether,  with  all  its 
imperfections,  existing  regulation  does  much  good. 
However  imperfect  the  system  may  be,  it  never- 
theless remains  that  many  prostitutes  who  are 
capable  of  transmitting  disease  are  discovered  and 
sent  to  the  hospital.  The  gist  of  the  matter, 
according  to  Tarnowsky,  is  that  a  syphilitic  pro- 
stitute when  locked  up  in  a  hospital  is  less  dangerous 
to  society  than  when  she  is  at  large. r 

Burlereaux,  according  to  Barthelemy,  observed 
thirty-five  soldiers  of  a  battalion  infected  with 
syphilis  by  the  same  woman.  Would  it  not  have 
been  an  advantage  to  have  locked  her  up  before 
so  much  damage  had  been  done? 


"It  is  my  conviction,  based  upon  studies  continued,  I  am  almost 
sorry  to  say,  through  years,  that  one  cannot  prove,  by  statistics,  the 
effect  of  regulation  of  prostitution  upon  the  spread  of  venereal  dis- 
ease."— Neisser,  ibid.,  35. 

"In  general,  one  believes  no  statistics  but  his  own.  One  may  sup- 
port a  thesis  by  statistical  data,  but  he  will  never  convince  an  adver- 
sary by  arguments  of  that  kind." — Lassar,  ibid.,  33. 

1  Op.  tit.,  318. 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control      1 1 1 

Dr.  Commenge  has  estimated  the  probable  good 
due  to  Parisian  regulation.1  From  1887  to  1897, 
15,095  prostitutes  have  been  sent  to  the  hospital 
of  the  prison  of  St.  Lazare  to  be  treated  for  syphilis. 
Assuming  that  the  average  period  of  confinement 
was  thirty  days  and  that  each  one  would  have 
contaminated  ten  men,  150,950  men  have  been 
saved  from  a  horrible  disease. 

There  is  something  childish  about  such  reason- 
ing as  this.  If  venereal  disease  is  as  frightfully 
prevalent  among  the  clandestine  prostitutes  as  all 
supporters  of  regulation  claim,  and  if  the  clandes- 
tine so  far  outnumber  the  registered  prostitutes  as 
they  also  claim,  then  the  man  who  is  saved  from 
the  great  probability  of  being  infected  by  the  dis- 
eased registered  prostitute  runs  almost  as  great 
a  risk  of  infection  from  other  prostitutes.  Common- 
sense  would  admit  that  the  risk  is  less,  but  how 
much  less  it  is  puerile  to  attempt  to  discover.  One 
may  be  pretty  sure  that  some  of  Burlereaux's 
thirty-five  soldiers  would  have  contracted  syphilis 
elsewhere;  but  omniscience  alone  would  make  it 
possible  to  know  how  many. 

It  is  obvious  that  if  the  number  of  prostitutes 
controlled  is  a  small  fraction  of  the  total  number, 
the  value  of  control  is  zero,  since  the  number  of 
diseased  actually  removed  from  active  commerce  is 
but  an  infinitesimal  part  of  the  volume  of  disease 

1  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Communications,  i., 
Appendix,  125. 


ii2  The  Social  Evil 

to  which  the  patrons  of  prostitution  habitually 
expose  themselves.1  Regulation  may  be  worth 
less  than  zero,  if  an  impression  of  safety  is  produced 
without  adequate  reason.2 

How  near  the  efficiency  of  existing  systems  is  to 
the  zero  point  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Some 
reliance  may,  however,  be  placed  upon  the  opinions 
of  those  who  have  spent  much  of  their  life  in  study- 
ing the  subject.  It  is  worth  noting  that  Parent- 
Duchatelet,  Behrend,  Hugel,  and  almost  all  other 
writers  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
also  many  present-day  writers  in  America,3  never 
doubted  that  immense  sanitary  advantages  from 

1  Strohmberg,  op.  tit.,  144. 

3  "The  public  believes  that  this  service"  (sanitary  control)  "is 
very  easy;  that  since  the  women  have  a  direct  professional  interest 
in  being  well,  there  are  practically  no  refractory  ones  at  all,  and  that 
it  is  possible  to  have  commerce  with  them  without  fear  as  though 
free  from  danger.  It  is  here  that  the  danger  lies;  it  is  this  security 
that  is  perilous,  since  a  man  exposes  himself  without  the  habitual 
precautions." — Barthelemy,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899; 
Rapports  Preliminaires,  ire  Question,  5. 

3 "One  thing  is  certain,  every  one  agrees, — the  partisans  of  regu- 
lation not  excepted, — that  the  methods  actually  in  use  for  diminish- 
ing the  evils  of  prostitution  cannot  be  considered  effective.  The 
organisation  and  administration  of  the  surveillance,  medical  and  police, 
are  so  defective,  in  our  opinion,  that  but  little  is  to  be  expected  from 
it." — Neisser,  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Internationale  de  Prophylaxie 
Sanitaire  et  Morale,  I.,  i. 

"I  am  asked,  'Are  you  satisfied  with  the  existing  regulations?' — 
'  No. ' — '  But  you  speak  well  of  them. ' — 'Yes,  for  they  do  a  little  good.' " 
— Fournier,  Conference  Internationale,  Brussels,  1899;  Compte  Rendu, 
ire  Question,  100. 

"A  system  of  regulation  in  which  arbitrary  methods  of  registration 
are  employed,  which  does  not  realise  the  purposes  of  sanitary  inspection, 
which  cripples  the  utility  of  compulsory  treatment  through  premature 


Effectiveness  of  Sanitary  Control      113 

control  were  easily  demonstrated.  Modern  au- 
thorities, on  the  other  hand,  are  content  to  claim 
for  regulation  merely  a  modicum  of  good,  or  look 
upon  it  as  a  stock  upon  which  really  useful  control 
may  be  grafted. 

dismissal  from  the  hospital, — such  a  system  of  regulation  is  certainly 
of  little  value." — Tarnowsky,  op.  cit.,  205. 

Augagneur  and  Blaschko  are  inclined  to  deny  that  existing  systems 
of  regulation  do  any  good  at  all.     Kromayer  is  certain  that  one  of 
the  most  serious  diseases,  gonorrhoea,  is  not  influenced  in  the  least 
by  regulation  as  it  exists. 
8 


CHAPTER  X 

PROBABLE     EFFECTIVENESS     OF     REGLEMENTATION 
IN   NEW  YORK 

THE  problems  which  reglementation  has  to  solve 
differ  from  city  to  city.  Accordingly,  it  is  not  suf- 
ficient for  the  present  purpose  to  show  how  far  it 
has  succeeded  in  other  cities ;  but  each  problem  re- 
lating to  reglementation  must  be  considered  with 
respect  to  the  legal  institutions,  the  racial  and  local 
characteristics,  the  social  and  economic  conditions 
of  the  city  of  immediate  interest — New  York. 

The  legal  question  is  obviously  one  which  can 
be  decided  only  by  legal  specialists.  It  is  in  a  way 
preliminary  to  all  further  discussion,  since  con- 
stitutional obstacles  to  reglementation,  if  such 
exist,  are  practically  insurmountable.  The  regu- 
lation of  prostitution  can  be  a  burning  question 
only  in  the  large  city;  and  even  if  it  were  agreed 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  that  reglementation 
is  expedient,  the  hostility  or  indifference  of  the 
country  at  large  would  make  it  impossible  to  carry 
a  constitutional  amendment  for  the  sake  of  its 

realisation. 

114 


Reglementation  in  New  York         115 

All  that  can  be  attempted  here  is  to  state  the 
problem,  and  to  indicate  the  main  theories  that 
have  been  advanced  for  its  solution. 

The  essential  features  of  a  system  of  reglementa- 
tion  are  the  periodical  examination  and  treatment 
in  the  lock-hospital  for  venereal  diseases.  No 
legal  difficulty  would  arise  if  the  prostitute  could 
be  induced  to  submit  to  the  rules  voluntarily. 
But  a  very  large  class  will  never  submit;  hence 
compulsion  is  absolutely  necessary  if  the  system  is 
to  be  effective.  Manifestly,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  impose  compulsory  physical  examinations  and 
imprisonment  for  extended  treatment  without  de- 
priving the  persons  subjected  to  them  of  a  large 
share  of  their  personal  liberty. 

The  most  familiar  line  of  defence  for  such  a 
restriction  upon  individual  liberty  is  the  declara- 
tion that  prostitution  is  a  status,  analogous  to  the 
military  status,  which  limits  the  civil  rights  of  the 
individual  and  subjects  him  to  special  regulations 
and,  possibly,  to  special  tribunals.  This  is  prac- 
tically the  view  of  European  reglementists.  It  is 
doubtful,  however,  whether  American  constitu- 
tional law  would  admit  the  right  of  a  legislature  to 
create  a  special  status  of  this  kind. 

A  second  manner  of  defending  reglementation 
is  to  classify  prostitution  with  occupations  that  are 
subject  to  police  regulation,  such  as  cab-driving, 
the  keeping  of  a  hotel,  and  the  like.  Regulations 
may  decide  under  what  conditions  such  a  trade 


n6  The  Social  Evil 

may  be  carried  on  and  under  what  conditions  it  is 
not  permissible.  Infractions  of  the  rules  may  be 
subject  to  special  penalties.  The  periodical  exam- 
ination could,  perhaps,  be 'defended  in  such  a 
manner.1  Physical  examination  would  be  a  condi- 
tion precedent  to  the  exercise  of  the  trade.  But 
imprisonment  for  treatment  would  seem  to  be 
more  difficult  to  defend.  Would  it  be  possible  to 
imprison  a  cabman  whose  license  has  been  revoked 
and  who  is  suspected  of  intending  to  carry  on  his 
occupation  unauthorised?  Such  a  procedure 
seems  to  be  perfectly  analogous  to  the  forcible 
detention  of  the  diseased  prostitute.  Accordingly, 
reglementation  must  discover  some  other  basis 
than  that  of  special  regulation  of  a  special  trade. 

But  whether  prostitution  is  viewed  as  a  special 
status  or  a  special  occupation,  some  clear  definition 
of  prostitution  and  some  workable  method  of 
establishing  the  fact  of  prostitution  are  essential. 
It  is  absurd  to  believe  that  the  mere  suspicion  of 
police  agents  or  the  mere  fact  of  venereal  disease 
would  be  sufficient  in  America,  as  it  is  in  France 
and  Germany,  to  prove  that  a  woman  belongs  to 
the  status  of  professional  prostitution,  or  exercises 
prostitution  as  a  regular  trade,  so  long  as  she 
denies  the  fact.  Legal  proof  would  be  absolutely 


1  It  may  be  remarked  that  in  Russia,  workers  in  factories  are  theo- 
retically subject  to  periodical  physical  examinations,  and  that  in 
Posen  all  barmaids  are  subjected  to  such  examination  before  entering 
upon  a  position. 


Reglementation  in  New  York          117 

necessary  for  placing  a  woman  in  such  a  status 
or  class,  and  such  proof  must  necessarily  in  the 
majority  of  cases  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  obtain. 

Another  common  method  of  providing  a  legal 
basis  for  reglementation  is  to  bring  it  under  the 
class  of  police  regulations  for  preventing  the 
spread  of  contagious  diseases.  The  analogy  be- 
tween the  compulsory  treatment  of  venereal 
disease  and  the  isolation  of  those  who  suffer  from 
other  contagious  maladies,  would,  perhaps,  be 
perfect  if  all  venereal  patients  were  subjected  to 
the  same  treatment.  This  would,  however,  be 
impossible  under  present  conditions ;  and  to  make 
the  regulation  apply  to  a  special  class  only,  would, 
of  course,  require  the  creation  of  such  a  special 
class,  and  thus  would  raise  the  difficulties  which 
have  been  pointed  out  above. 

A  fourth  plan  is  that  of  restoring  ancient  laws 
making  prostitution  a  crime  or  a  misdemeanour 
and  of  leaving  to  the  police  courts  discretionary 
power  as  to  the  penalties  imposed.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  by  a  series  of  legal  fictions  the 
diseased  prostitutes  might  be  subjected  to  im- 
prisonment in  hospitals,  while  those  not  found 
to  be  diseased  might  be  permitted  to  go  un- 
punished. If  such  a  procedure  is  not  unconsti- 
tutional, it  would  probably  provide  a  sufficient 
basis  for  a  system  of  sanitary  regulation  of  vice. 
The  difficulty  would  still  remain  that  sufficient 


n8  The  Social  Evil 

proof  of  prostitution  would  be  required, — a  dif- 
ficulty which  is  practically  insurmountable. 

It  remains  to  be  considered  whether  it  would  be 
possible  to  overcome  the  natural  objections  of 
women  of  this  class  to  police  regulations,  so  that 
submission  to  its  rules  might  be  voluntary.  This 
could  only  be  done  by  granting  special  privileges 
to  those  who  submit.  A  relentless  persecution  of 
those  who  do  not  submit  to  the  regulations,  and 
immunity  from  arrest  to  those  who  do  submit, 
would  undoubtedly  drive  many  to  accept  registra- 
tion and  periodical  examination  as  the  lesser  of 
two  evils.  Accordingly,  the  question  of  regulation 
based  upon  quasi-voluntary  inscription  resolves 
itself  into  the  question  of  the  possibility  of  coping 
with  "clandestine"  or  unsubjected  prostitution. 

The  first  question  to  be  considered  has  to  do  with 
the  efficiency  of  the  police  organisation  itself. 
Experience  has  shown  conclusively  that  for  the 
morals  service,  special  agents,  endowed  with  rare 
qualities  of  tact,  shrewdness,  and  integrity,  are 
necessary.  Doubtless  the  materials  for  a  special 
force  of  agents  can  be  found  in  an  American  city. 
But  it  stands  to  reason  that  it  would  take  time  to 
organise  as  efficient  a  force  as  that  of  Paris  or 
Berlin.  For  this  reason,  it  must  be  expected  that 
for  a  time  excess  of  caution,  varied  by  unfortunate 
excess  of  zeal,  would  mar  the  working  of  the  sys- 
tem. This  defect  would  cure  itself  with  time,  how- 
ever, and  so  may  be  dismissed. 


Reglementation  in  New  York        119 

But,  granted  a  force  of  the  highest  degree  of 
efficiency,  it  is  evident  that  the  problem  of  coping 
with  clandestine  prostitution  in  New  York  would 
be  exceptionally  difficult.  The  freedom  with  which 
women  and  girls  of  good  character  frequent  public 
places  unattended,  or  pass  through  the  streets 
alone  in  the  evening,  is  not  paralleled  in  any 
European  city.  In  Paris,  Lecour  could  arrest  a 
young  woman  who  waited  for  her  husband  at  the 
door  of  a  shop,  "because  no  decent  woman  lingered 
upon  the  sidewalk."  Imagine  a  New  York  agent 
of  police  acting  upon  such  inferences!  It  is  needless 
to  dwell  upon  this  fact,  since  any  one  can  under- 
stand that  American  habits  of  life  make  it  possible 
for  a  discreet  prostitute  to  exercise  her  vocation 
much  longer  without  rousing  the  suspicion  of  a 
limited  force  of  police  agents  than  she  could 
possibly  do  in  Paris  or  Berlin. 

A  second  consideration  is  the  greater  difficulty 
that  an  American  morals  police  would  find  in  acting 
upon  its  suspicions.  On  the  Continent  of  Europe 
a  person  generally  lives  more  or  less  under  the  eyes 
of  the  police.  Birth  certificates,  passports,  employ- 
ment cards,  and  the  like  are  in  fairly  general  use, 
so  that  it  is  not  difficult  for  the  police  to  have  an 
insight  into  the  antecedents  and  means  of  liveli- 
hood of  the  resident  population.  It  is  easy  to  see 
how  such  data  would  be  of  the  utmost  importance 
in  segregating  that  part  of  the  population  which 
will  bear  watching.  The  antecedents  of  any  person 


120  The  Social  Evil 

who  may  immigrate  into  a  city  are  likewise  easily 
determined.  But  in  New  York  the  police  would 
have  no  help  from  such  data.  A  secret  service, 
however  ubiquitous,  could  acquaint  itself  with  the 
life  of  only  a  fraction  of  the  population  of  New 
York. 

Again,  it  makes  much  difference  whether  the 
vicious  element  in  the  population  is  very  migratory 
in  its  habits  or  not.  It  takes  time  before  the  con- 
duct of  a  new  arrival  draws  suspicion.  Still  more 
time  elapses  before  the  suspicion  is  sufficiently 
strong  to  justify  police  action.  The  person  ob- 
served may  be  ready  to  remove  to  another  city,  or 
to  another  part  of  the  same  city,  before  anything 
can  be  done  to  fix  her  status. 

The  prostitute  is  notorious  everywhere  for  her 
migratory  habits.  Self-interest  may,  however, 
compel  her  to  remain  in  the  same  city  when  her 
whims  would  lead  her  to  migrate.  A  city  which 
is  preeminently  the  centre  of  the  life  of  a  whole 
country  will  naturally  be  the  place  to  which 
prostitutes  will  flock,  and  whence  they  may  usually 
depart  only  with  loss  in  earning  power.  Paris  and 
Berlin  occupy  such  positions.  New  York,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  only  one,  although  the  greatest  one, 
of  a  number  of  great  American  cities.  As  a  centre 
of  professional  vice,  it  would  be  scarcely  more 
attractive  than  Philadelphia  or  Chicago,  or  even 
a  number  of  lesser  cities.  What  is  more,  the  far 
greater  incomes  of  American  prostitutes  make  it 


Reglementation  in  New  York         121 

easier  for  them  to  move  from  place  to  place  than 
it  is  for  European  prostitutes. 

In  view  of  these  considerations,  it  is  evident  that 
the  problem  of  combating  clandestine  prostitution 
in  New  York  is  far  more  difficult  than  in  European 
cities.  One  fact  is,  however,  to  be  set  against  these, 
and  that  is  that  the  occasional  prostitute,  who 
merely  ekes  out  an  insufficient  wage  by  vicious 
earnings,  is  probably  less  common  in  New  York 
than  in  Berlin,  and  perhaps  than  in  Paris.  And 
this  is  the  most  difficult  to  cope  with  of  all  forms 
of  clandestine  prostitution. 

It  remains  to  consider  whether  it  would  be 
possible  to  retain  as  efficient  a  control  over  prosti- 
tutes once  registered  as  it  is  in  European  cities. 
This  also  seems  doubtful.  It  is  well  known  that 
prostitutes  are  more  or  less  refractory,  according 
to  the  characteristics  of  the  people  from  whom 
they  spring.  The  American  impatience  of  author- 
ity would  certainly  make  itself  manifest  in  the 
spirit  with  which  these  women  would  obey  regu- 
lations. The  Parisian  authorities  find  great 
difficulty  in  following  up  the  prostitutes  who  with- 
draw themselves  from  control  by  changing  their 
habitations.  In  view  of  American  notions  of 
inviolability  of  domicile,  it  is  hard  to  see  why  it 
would  not  be  very  easy  for  a  prostitute  to  drop  out 
of  sight  altogether  by  merely  moving  from  one 
part  of  the  city  to  another.  Moreover,  if  diseased, 
she  would  be  exceedingly  likely  to  prefer  a  few 


122  The  Social  Evil 

months'  sojourn  in  another  city  to  a  period  of  con- 
finement in  a  lock-hospital.  And  while  the  amount 
of  disease  originating  in  New  York  might  be 
diminished,  the  amount  of  disease  in  the  country 
as  a  whole  would  remain  practically  the  same. 
Under  such  conditions,  it  is  evident  that  no 
permanent  advance  in  the  combating  of  venereal 
disease  could  be  made,  since  a  momentary  relaxa- 
tion of  reglementation  would  mean  a  restoration 
of  the  conditions  prevailing  before  its  introduction. 
In  almost  every  respect,  then,  New  York  presents 
a  more  difficult  problem  with  respect  to  reglemen- 
tation than  Paris  or  Berlin.  If  reglementation 
does  only  a  "little  good"  in  the  latter  cities,  it 
would  necessarily  do  less  good  in  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XI 

MORAL   REGULATION  OF  VICE 

IT  is  customary  to  speak  as  though  there  were 
but  three  possible  ways  of  dealing  with  prostitu- 
tion, absolute  laissez  faire,  absolute  prohibition  of 
vice,  and  reglementation. 

It  is  very  cogently  argued  that  laissez  faire  is 
an  inadmissible  policy.  Not  only  does  venereal 
disease  extend  its  ravages  unchecked,  but  every 
sort  of  moral  iniquity  thrives  wherever  vice  is  a 
law  unto  itself.  With  equal  cogency  it  is  argued 
that  no  human  legislator  can  make  vicious  men  or 
women  virtuous,  or  preserve  so  close  a  surveillance 
over  them  as  to  prevent  the  exercise  of  their  evil 
propensities.  Thus,  by  a  process  of  exclusion, 
reglementation  is  arrived  at  as  the  only  rational 
policy  for  government  to  pursue. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  such  naive 
reasoning  can  still  be  entertained  by  thinking 
men.  Regulative  and  repressive  systems  differ  in 
emphasis,  rather  than  in  essence.  The  first  aim 
of  the  reglementist  is  to  check  disease;  he  recog- 
nises, however,  the  gravity  of  vice  in  itself,  and 

123 


124  The  Social  Evil 

admits  that  no  measures  that  may  limit  its  volume 
are  to  be  disregarded.  The  opponent  of  reglemen- 
tation,  while  believing  that  vice  itself  is  an  evil 
that  completely  overshadows  any  hygienic  effects 
that  result  from  it,  will  generally  admit  that  all 
means  for  combating  venereal  disease  should  be 
adopted,  provided  that  they  are  not  directly 
antagonistic  to  moral  ends.  Accordingly,  we  find 
many  elements,  both  moral  and  sanitary,  upon 
which  both  parties  agree.  A  system  of  control 
based  upon  such  common  elements  and  supple- 
mented somewhat  as  common-sense  suggests, 
would  escape  the  serious  charge,  now  brought 
against  reglementation,  of  making  itself  ancillary 
to  prostitution,  and  would  at  the  same  time  be 
free  from  the  moral  and  hygienic  futility  of  violent 
repression.  Such  a  system  would  abandon  the 
task  of  effecting  the  impossible,  in  either  morals  or 
hygiene,  and  would  reserve  the  powers  at  its 
command  for  the  bringing  about  of  such  ameli- 
orations as  experience  and  reason  have  shown  to 
be  possible.  Such  a  system  we  may  term  the 
Moral  Regulation  of  Vice,  since  it  would  never 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  moral  considerations  are 
of  paramount  importance. 

Repressive  Features  in  Moral  Control. — The  first 
point  upon  which  all  are  agreed  is  the  necessity  of 
suppressing,  so  far  as  possible,  flagrant  incitement 
to  debauch.  Solicitation  upon  the  street  and  in 
public  places  should  be  restrained;  haunts  of  vice 


Moral  Regulation  of  Vice  125 

should  be  compelled  to  assume  the  appearance  of 
decency;  in  short,  every  method  of  conspicuous 
advertising  of  vice  should  be  done  away  with.  It 
is  admitted  that  this  can  be  only  approximately 
accomplished.  The  prostitute  will  always  con- 
trive to  make  her  presence  known.  But  much 
would  be  gained  if  vice  could  be  made  relatively 
inconspicuous  except  to  its  votaries.  The  constant 
presence  of  women  known  to  be  immoral  serves  to 
recruit  each  year  the  patronage  of  prostitution  by 
inciting  to  vice  many  who  would  not  of  themselves 
have  sought  illicit  pleasures.  From  this  point  of 
view,  it  is  far  better  that  prostitutes  should  be 
clandestine  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  than  that 
they  should  appear  in  their  true  colours.  A  system 
which  places  moral  ends  before  sanitary  would  be 
just  as  capable  of  dealing  with  this  part  of  the 
problem  as  one  which  regards  sanitary  ends  as 
paramount.  As  a  practical  fact,  the  former  system 
would  encounter  less  difficulty  than  the  latter, 
since  the  exigencies  of  sanitary  control  require  that 
a  certain  latitude  of  flagrancy  should  be  given  to 
the  licensed  prostitute.1 

The  pernicious  effect  of  a  league  between  vice 
and  legitimate  pleasures  has  been  mentioned 
above.2  Especially  dangerous  is  vice  in  public 
drinking-places.  Women  are  engaged  to  persuade 
men  to  drink  alcoholic  liquors  to  excess;  the  ef- 
fects of  alcohol,  in  turn,  lend  service  to  vice.  To 

1  Supra,  74,  note.  3  Supra,  74. 


126  The  Social  Evil 

what  proportions  this  evil  may  grow,  the  Parisian 
brasseries  a  femmes  (drinking-places  with  female 
service)  will  show.  It  will  doubtless  be  impossible 
to  keep  the  saloon  absolutely  free  from  the  presence 
of  prostitution,  and  to  prohibit  absolutely  the  sale 
of  intoxicants  in  brothels.  But  a  policy  which 
should  revoke  the  license  of  a  saloonkeeper  who 
permits  unattended  women  to  frequent  his  premises 
in  the  evening  and  night  would  assist  in  driving  vice 
from  the  saloon  proper.  A  supplemental  policy  of 
discouraging  the  sale  of  liquors  in  so-called  hotels 
would  be  needed  to  make  the  plan  effective. 

In  like  manner,  the  dancing-hall  or  music-hall 
which  lends  itself  to  the  purposes  of  vice  is  a  public 
nuisance  and  could  be  reached  by  the  police  when- 
ever immorality  becomes  flagrantly  conspicuous. 

Vice  will  naturally  take  refuge  in  private  houses 
if  denied  the  use  of  public  places.  It  would  still 
require  regulation  to  keep  it  within  the  bounds  of 
decency.  It  is  in  vain  that  it  is  driven  into  privacy 
if  by  conspicuous  lights  or  signs  or  by  noisy  music 
it  is  permitted  to  make  its  presence  notorious.  An 
English  law  of  the  present  day  makes  it  possible 
to  close  a  house  if  it  is  shown  by  the  testimony  of 
two  responsible  citizens  to  be  used  for  immoral 
purposes.1  While  it  is  doubtful  whether  such  a  law 
would  have  any  other  effect  than  that  of  breaking 

1  The  mere  fact  that  men  and  women  resort  to  a  house  in  such  a 
way  as  to  give  good  ground  for  suspicion  is  accepted  as  presumptive 
proof. 


Moral  Regulation  of  Vice  127 

up  the  house  of  ill  fame  and  compelling  prostitutes 
to  resort  to  solicitation  upon  the  street,  an  analo- 
gous measure  which  should  permit  aggrieved  neigh- 
bours to  close  a  house  which  is  obtrusively  devoted 
to  immorality  would  be  a  most  efficient  force  in 
compelling  such  establishments  to  conceal  their 
true  character. 

We  may  here  consider  whether  moral  ends  are  best 
subserved  by  relegating  vice  to  a  single  quarter  of 
the  city.  It  is  a  serious  question  whether  the  house 
of  ill  fame,  situated  in  a  respectable  locality  and  com- 
pelled to  preserve  an  outward  air  of  decency,  is  as 
dangerous  to  the  community  at  large  as  a  similar 
establishment  surrounded  by  others  of  a  like  charac- 
ter and  hence  not  under  compulsion  to  refrain  from 
flagrant  devices  for  increasing  its  patronage.1 

Preventive  Features. — A  second  point  upon  which 
all  parties  will  agree,  is  the  desirability  of  keeping 
growing  children  free  from  contact  with  profes- 
sional vice.  The  child  who  knows  all  evil  is  almost 
destined  to  share  in  it.  No  child  over  three  years 
of  age  should  be  permitted  in  a  house  where  pro- 
stitution is  carried  on.2  In  tenement  and  flat- 
houses,  parents  of  children  should  be  able  to  bring 
complaint  against  tenants  of  tenements  or  flats  in 
the  same  building  when  suspicion  is  created  that 

1  Supra,  39  et  seq. 

3  In  Continental  cities,  the  inmates  of  brothels  are  not  permitted 
to  keep  even  their  own  children  with  them  after  the  third  or  fourth 
year. 


128  The  Social  Evil 

prostitution  is  carried  on  in  such  tenements;  and 
if  the  suspicion  is  found  to  be  based  upon  reason- 
able grounds,  the  courts  should  require  the  land- 
lord to  evict  the  suspected  parties.  The  evil  is 
one  of  such  gravity  that  it  would  seem  to  justify 
a  measure  which  interferes,  to  a  certain  extent, 
with  the  principle  of  inviolability  of  domicile. 

Even  where  the  children  of  the  poor  are  not  in 
immediate  contact  with  professional  vice,  their 
surroundings  are  frequently  highly  inimical  to 
virtue.  Where  a  whole  family,  adults  and  children 
of  both  sexes,  is  crowded  together  in  a  single  room, 
moral  degradation  is  almost  inevitable.  What  the 
effects  of  such  conditions  may  be,  can  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  in  European  cities  an  appreciable 
proportion  of  the  prostitutes  who  are  brought  up 
in  such  circumstances  trace  their  fall  to  incestuous 
relations.  The  problem  is  one  of  the  most  intricate 
with  which  society  has  to  deal,  since  the  incomes 
of  the  poor  and  the  rents  which  they  have  to  pay 
are  almost  entirely  fixed  by  laws  over  which 
government  has  little  control.  Nevertheless,  the 
question  may  be  raised  whether  it  is  not  possible, 
by  means  of  restrictions  upon  the  building  and 
letting  of  houses,  to  discourage  the  formation  of 
quarters  that  inevitably  entail  upon  the  com- 
munity a  most  serious  burden  of  vice  and  disease. 

It  has  often  been  suggested  that  the  present 
system  of  public  education  does  not  exhaust  its 
possibilities  as  a  moralising  force.  Frequently, 


Moral  Regulation  of  Vice  129 

the  child  who  leaves  the  public  school  loses  the 
only  influence  that  makes  for  morality,  and  at  the 
time  when  the  need  for  such  influence  is  greatest. 
There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  an  extension  of 
the  years  of  public  education  for  children  whose 
parents  or  guardians  cannot  show  that  they  are 
engaged  in  satisfactory  employment  or  properly 
cared  for  in  their  homes,  would  diminish  the  evil 
of  prostitution  of  young  girls.  The  child  who  is 
left  free  to  pursue  her  own  inclinations,  or  who 
is  employed  by  unscrupulous  parties,  has  always 
been  the  easiest  prey  of  the  professional  seducer. 
Such  additional  education  should  naturally  be  of  a 
kind  that  would  train  the  pupils  for  industrial  or 
household  duties.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
many  girls  become  prostitutes  simply  because  they 
are  so  deficient  in  training  as  to  be  incapable  of 
earning  their  living  in  any  other  way. 

All  students  of  the  social  evil  understand  how 
serious  the  problem  of  the  prostitution  of  minors 
has  become.  Whether  sanitary  or  moral  ends  are 
considered  to  be  of  paramount  importance,  the 
prostitution  of  children  cannot  be  tolerated.  The 
supporters  of  reglementation  have  for  decades 
pleaded  for  the  establishment  of  reformatories  or 
asylums  for  the  rescue  of  young  girls  who  have 
fallen  into  evil  ways,  or  who  are  in  danger  of 
falling.  The  Morals  Service  constantly  has  to  deal 
with  children  who  are  much  too  young  to  be  regis- 
tered as  public  prostitutes,  but  who  nevertheless 


130  The  Social  Evil 

gain  their  living  by  professional  vice.  All  that  the 
judges  can  do  is  to  give  a  useless  warning,  and  to 
send  them  back  to  conditions  in  which  moral 
improvement  is  impossible.  In  cities  where  no 
attempt  is  made  to  regulate  vice,  the  general 
public  is  ignorant  of  the  extent  of  this  evil. 

A  Prussian  law  of  July,  1900,*  presents  the  first 
systematic  attempt  to  grapple  with  this  problem. 
By  the  provisions  of  this  law,  girls  under  eighteen 
who  are  found  to  be  living  a  vicious  life,  or  who 
fall  into  evil  company  so  that  they  are  in  danger 
of  being  led  into  immorality,  may  be  placed  it! 
institutions  or  under  the  charge  of  parties  who  will 
be  responsible  for  their  conduct.  If  necessary, 
they  may  be  kept  under  guardianship  until  their 
twenty-first  year.  These  provisions  are  applicable 
both  to  those  whose  parents  or  guardians  connive 
at  their  downfall,  and  to  those  who  cannot  be 
controlled  by  their  natural  guardians.  This  law 
represents  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  the  most 
profound  students  of  the  social  evil. 

Sanitary  Features. — A  system  of  moral  control 
would  not  abandon  all  of  the  sanitary  features  that 
are  embodied  in  reglementation.  Both  systems 
alike  demand  that  general  practitioners  should 
be  required  to  possess  a  high  degree  of  knowledge 
in  the  treatment  of  venereal  maladies.  Both 
systems  agree  that  the  quack  physician  who 
practically  fosters  disease  for  his  own  ends  should 

1  Dos  Fursorge-Erziehungs-Gesetz,  July  2,  1900. 


Moral  Regulation  of  Vice  131 

be  eliminated.1  Treatment  for  venereal  disease 
should  be  within  the  reach  of  all.  The  cost  of 
adequate  treatment  for  the  more  serious  forms  of 
venereal  maladies  is  so  great  that  the  vast  majority 
of  patients  cannot  be  treated  at  all  except  at  public 
hospitals  and  dispensaries.  These  should,  accord- 
ingly, be  numerous  enough  to  furnish  gratuitous 
treatment  to  all  who  desire  it.  Patients  should  be 
encouraged  to  appear  for  treatment;  every  care 
should  be  taken  to  insure  them  against  exposure, 
since  many  would  rather  endure  their  maladies  in 
secret  than  permit  it  to  be  known  that  they  suffer 
from  a  "shameful  disease."  If  publicity  cannot  be 
avoided  at  public  dispensaries,  it  would  be  for 
the  general  welfare  to  designate  officially  private 
physicians  in  each  quarter  of  the  city  who  should 
treat  such  patients  free  of  charge,  receiving  their 
compensation  from  the  public  treasury.2 

Objection  will  doubtless  be  raised  that  such 

1  This  has  already  been  accomplished  in  England. 

*  According  to  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow  (The  Prophylaxis  of  Venereal 
Disease),  the  vast  majority  of  syphilitic  patients  do  not  receive  ade- 
quate treatment.  "Not  one  in  twenty,  certainly  not  one  in  ten,  re- 
ceives a  treatment  sufficiently  prolonged."  The  city  of  New  York 
provides  twenty-six  beds  for  the  treatment  of  female  venereal  patients. 
For  male  patients  there  are  fifty-six  beds  in  the  City  Hospital  and  a 
small  number  in  the  Metropolitan  Hospital.  It  seems  almost  incred- 
ible that,  at  the  dispensaries,  women  patients  are  received  in  the  same 
room  with  men,  so  that  the  fact  that  they  suffer  from  secret  maladies 
becomes  known.  Such  a  policy  reminds  one  of  that  pursued  by  Pari- 
sian hospitals  toward  venereal  patients  during  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries:  They  were  well  cudgelled  upon  their  admission  and 
upon  their  discharge,  in  order  that  the  fact  might  be  impressed  upon 
them  that  they  suffered  from  a  shameful  disease. 


i32  The  Social  Evil 

measures  would  minimise  the  deterrent  effect  that 
is  exercised  by  venereal  disease  upon  those  who 
wish  to  indulge  in  vice.  It  is  a  sufficient  answer 
that  the  chronic  results  of  disease  are  frequently 
even  more  disastrous  to  innocent  parties  than  to 
the  sufferer  himself.  Moreover,  the  immediate 
consequences  of  disease  are  sufficiently  grave  to 
act  as  a  deterrent  for  those  who  can  be  deterred 
from  vice  by  fear  of  disease.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
the  distantly  remote  consequences  are  weighed 
at  all. 

Finally,  a  system  of  moral  control  cannot  over- 
look the  fact  that  venereal  disease  is  frequently 
transmitted  to  innocent  persons.  Most  frequently, 
this  results  from  the  fact  that  men  who  believe  that 
they  are  completely  cured  of  such  diseases  still 
retain  chronic  accidents  by  which  they  transmit 
disease  to  their  innocent  wives.  It  is  difficult  to 
see  how  this  evil  can  be  remedied  except  by  the 
requirement,  as  a  preliminary  condition  to  the 
issuing  of  a  marriage  license,  of  a  certificate  from 
an  official  physician  showing  the  present  state  of 
health  of  each  of  the  contracting  parties.  Such  a 
requirement  would  work  no  real  hardship  to  any 
one,  since  few  persons  who  suspected  the  existence 
of  a  disease  of  this  kind  would  apply  for  an  official 
examination  before  health  had  been  restored.  It 
will  be  admitted  that  many  difficulties  would  arise 
in  the  administration  of  such  a  law,  and  that  it 
could  only  diminish  somewhat  the  evil  which  it  is 


Moral  Regulation  of  Vice  133 

designed  to  meet.  The  evil  in  question  is,  however, 
one  of  so  revolting  a  nature  that  any  amelioration 
would  be  worth  a  heavy  cost. 

For  the  administration  of  any  system  of  control 
of  vice,  experience  has  demonstrated  that  a  special 
body  of  police  agents  is  required.  If  the  ordinary 
police  are  permitted  to  arrest  suspected  prostitutes, 
or  to  raid  houses  of  prostitution,  the  responsibility 
for  the  care  of  public  morals  is  dissipated  and 
unlimited  opportunities  for  blackmail  are  created. 
The  system  which  leaves  the  initiative  to  the 
private  citizen  is  inadequate.  The  citizen  may  be 
trusted  to  do  whatever  lies  in  his  power  to  prevent 
resorts  in  his  immediate  vicinity  from  becoming 
especially  offensive  to  decency.  This  part  of  the 
system  of  control  may  wisely  be  left  to  him.  But 
for  the  discovery  of  prostitution  of  minors,  for  the 
control  of  prostitution  in  public  places  and  upon 
the  street,  a  limited  body  of  agents  selected  for 
exceptional  qualities  of  tact  and  integrity  is  ab- 
solutely essential.  Under  a  system  of  reglemen- 
tation,  the  agents  are  handicapped  by  the  fact  that 
much  of  their  time  must  be  spent  in  hunting  down 
prostitutes  who  fail  to  appear  for  periodic  exam- 
ination. Divested  of  this  responsibility,  their 
efficiency  in  preventing  the  worst  forms  of  vice 
would  be  vastly  increased. 

For  the  introduction  of  a  system  of  control 
embodying  the  above  features  several  State  laws 
would  be  needed.  But  whereas  reglementation 


134  The  Social  Evil 

would  with  difficulty  find  a  place  under  the  Con- 
stitution, a  system  of  moral  control  would  be  open 
to  no  objections  on  the  score  of  constitutional  law. 
What  is  of  greater  importance,  any  good  that  might 
result  from  reglementation  is  fatally  tainted  with 
evil ;  whatever  good  might  result  from  moral  con- 
trol is  good  unmixed.  Reglementation  would 
arouse  the  uncompromising  hostility  of  a  great  part 
of  the  community;  intelligent  moral  control  would 
meet  with  the  approval  of  all,  excepting  of  those 
who  are  not  satisfied  with  a  plan  which  would  only 
gradually  bring  about  moral  and  sanitary  improve- 
ment, and  who  dream  that  there  is  some  royal  road 
to  the  instant  abolition  of  either  moral  or  sanitary 
evil. 


APPENDIX 

THE  "  RAINES  LAW  HOTEL"   AND  THE   SOCIAL  EVIL 

No  one  who  has  lived  in  New  York  City  can  have  failed 
to  realise  that  there  is  a  close  connection  between  what  is 
popularly  known  as  the  "Raines  Law  hotel"  and  profes- 
sional vice.  The  term  is  rapidly  coming  to  be  synonymous 
with  house  of  assignation.  This  does  not  mean  that  there 
are  not  many  so-called  hotels,  organised  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  evading  the  Raines  Law,  which  have  remained  completely 
free  from  prostitution.  Yet  it  can  hardly  be  denied  that 
there  are  forces  at  work  which  tend  to  make  the  decent 
Raines  Law  hotel  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule. 

From  time  out  of  mind  there  have  been  inns  and  hotels 
in  which  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  conform  to  the  rules 
of  morality  of  the  general  community.  The  transient  has 
always  been  of  notoriously  loose  habits,  and  it  is  only 
natural  that  vicious  women  should  congregate  wherever 
he  is  entertained.  Inn-keepers  of  unscrupulous  character 
have  winked  at  disreputable  practices  where  they  have  not 
positively  encouraged  them  and  shared  the  resulting  profits. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  the  transition  from  such  inns  to  the 
house  of  accommodation,  which  does  not  derive  any  ap- 
preciable part  of  its  returns  from  legitimate  service,  but 
depends  upon  the  patronage  brought  to  it  by  the  professional 
street-walker.  Wherever  solicitation  upon  the  street  is 
permitted,  such  establishments  will  inevitably  exist; 
and  they  will  prosper  or  decay  with  the  form  of  vice  which 


136  Appendix 

supports  them.  Depending  entirely  upon  vice,  their 
location  is  necessarily  limited  to  the  quarters  where  the 
volume  of  vice  is  considerable.  Solicitation  upon  the 
street  is  in  turn  limited  to  the  vicinity  of  such  houses, 
since  the  street-walker,  in  order  to  ply  her  vocation  with 
profit,  must  have  a  place  in  the  near  vicinity  to  which  she 
may  bring  her  customers  or  victims.  There  is,  accordingly, 
a  natural  tendency  for  vice  to  segregate  itself,  to  a  certain 
extent,  from  the  general  community,  to  form  notorious 
districts  in  the  various  quarters  of  the  large  city. 

New  York,  however,  presents  the  unique  feature  of  pro- 
viding virtual  houses  of  accommodation  throughout  the 
city,  quite  without  regard  for  the  actual  demand  for  them. 
As  a  consequence,  all  difficulties  that  normally  He  in  the 
way  of  soliciting  in  other  than  notorious  parts  of  the  city 
are  removed.  The  street-walker  may  make  any  place 
she  chooses  the  scene  of  her  operations.  As  a  result, 
solicitation  is  probably  more  general  in  New  York  than 
in  any  other  American  city. 

This  abnormal  and  pernicious  state  of  affairs  is  easily 
explained  by  reference  to  the  local  excise  laws.  By  section 
31  of  the  Raines  Law  the  hotel  is  given  a  highly  favoured 
position  in  the  sale  of  alcoholic  liquors,  since  it  alone  is 
permitted  to  sell  such  liquors  on  Sunday.  It  is  a  trite 
statement  that  the  profits  of  a  New  York  saloon  are  made 
on  Sunday,  the  week-day  trade  merely  sufficing  to  pay 
expenses.  While  this  may  be  an  exaggeration,  the  Sunday 
trade  is  certainly  important,  since  the  retention  of  regular 
custom  frequently  depends  upon  it.  It  was  therefore  in- 
evitable that  a  great  number  of  saloons  should  attempt 
to  annex  a  sufficient  number  of  rooms  to  pass  under  the 
definition  of  hotels. 

For  respectable  purposes,  however,  the  demand  for  rooms 
connected  with  saloons  is  necessarily  very  limited.  And 
so  the  tenant  of  a  "hotel"  of  this  class  has  had  the  choice 


Raines  Law   Hotels  137 

between  paying  rent  for  vacant  space  or  permitting  the 
use  of  his  rooms  for  dishonourable  purposes.  Of  course 
there  are  many  men  in  the  liquor  business  who  have 
preferred  a  pecuniary  loss  to  a  shameful  gain.  But  it  is 
easy  to  see  why,  in  a  class  of  men  who  are  held  more  or  less 
in  disrepute  and  who  are  repeatedly  charged  with  making 
a  gain  out  of  other  men's  degradation,  many  will  be  found 
who  will  not  stick  at  profits,  however  stained.  It  may  be 
truthfully  said  that,  under  the  most  favourable  circum- 
stances, the  more  scrupulous  among  the  dealers  in  alcoholic 
beverages  are  at  a  disadvantage.  Under  the  Raines  Law, 
as  it  has  been  applied,  there  is  an  active  influence  which 
favours  those  who  do  not  hesitate  to  make  themselves 
the  abettors  of  vice. 

Any  one  who  is  familiar  with  conditions  in  New  York 
must  admit  that  the  effect  of  the  Raines  Law  has  been 
to  provide  unexampled  accommodations  for  prostitution. 
The  only  questions  that  are  open  to  discussion  are  whether 
the  volume  of  vice  is  greater  than  it  would  be  if  the  Raines 
Law  hotel  did  not  exist,  and  whether  vice  as  it  manifests 
itself  in  such  institutions  is  more  dangerous  to  public  order 
and  public  health  than  it  would  be  under  normal  conditions. 

The  patronage  of  vice  may  be  divided  into  two  parts: 
that  which  is  given  without  the  employment  of  any  allure- 
ments on  the  part  of  those  who  provide  vicious  pleasures, 
and  that  which  is  procured  by  such  allurements.  It  is 
manifest  that  nothing  can  be  done  to  limit  the  patronage 
of  the  first  class.  It  is  by  the  influence  upon  the  second 
class  that  the  evil  imputable  to  any  institution  must  be 
estimated. 

Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  the  fact  that  the  possibility, 
due  to  the  Raines  Law  hotels,  of  soliciting  now  in  one  part 
of  the  city,  now  in  another,  increases  immensely  the  number 
of  persons  whom  the  prostitute  can  subject  to  her  allure- 
ments. Moreover,  so  long  as  solicitation  is  confined  to 


138  Appendix 

comparatively  limited  areas,  it  is  possible  for  police  agents 
to  restrain,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  conduct  of  vicious  women. 
When  solicitation  may  occur  in  any  part  of  the  city,  the 
task  is  made  immeasurably  greater.  Accordingly,  the  power 
for  evil  of  the  prostitute  is  increased  not  only  by  the 
possibility  given  her  of  meeting  greater  numbers  of  men,  but 
also  by  the  greater  freedom  with  which  indecent  proposals 
may  be  made. 

More  serious  still,  many  of  the  Raines  Law  hotels  are 
themselves  the  scene  of  most  insidious  and  therefore  most 
effective  solicitation.  The  average  citizen  goes  there  to 
drink  his  glass  of  beer  and  to  listen  to  the  bad  music  and 
worse  jokes  that  play  so  important  a  part  in  summer 
entertainment.  When  there,  he  becomes  subject  to  so- 
licitation which  has  the  appearance  of  a  mere  flirtation; 
if  he  yields,  it  is  with  the  least  possible  shock  to  his  moral 
sensibilities;  he  may  feel  that  he  did  not  seek  vice,  but  was 
overcome  by  circumstances.  The  convenient  arrangement 
of  rooms  makes  exposure  unlikely.  Persons  who  would 
hesitate  to  enter  a  brothel  or  notorious  rendezvous  are 
easily  "victimised"  in  the  Raines  Law  hotel  with  summer 
garden  or  roof  garden  or  other  facilities  for  public  enter- 
tainment. The  uncompromising  moralist  will  probably 
say  that  it  is  a  matter  of  small  importance  what  befalls 
such  moral  imbeciles.  He  might,  however,  change  his 
opinion  if  he  knew  how  many  of  them  there  are. 

Most  serious  of  all,  however,  is  the  fact  that  the  Raines 
Law  hotel  which  stands  on  the  line  between  vice  and  harm- 
lessness  is  very  frequently  the  place  where  the  growing 
boy  is  introduced  to  the  mysteries  of  immorality.  Where 
popular  entertainment  is  given,  it  is  inevitable  that  a 
certain  number  of  immoral  persons  will  be  found;  and  if 
accommodations  for  vice  are  present,  the  work  of  recruiting 
the  patronage  of  vice  among  boys  will  certainly  be  active. 

The  effect  of  such  institutions  as  the  Raines  Law  hotel 


Raines  Law  Hotels  139 

in  increasing  the  number  of  those  who  earn  their  living  by 
immorality  is  no  less  obvious.  Without  them,  the  clan- 
destine prostitute  would  necessarily  take  her  patrons  to 
brothels,  houses  of  assignation,  or  to  her  own  apartments. 
In  any  case  the  risk  of  discovery  would  be  greater  than  at 
present.  Many  who  are  just  starting  upon  the  downward 
path  would  shrink  from  entering  notorious  haunts  of  vice. 
For  such,  the  Raines  Law  hotel  is  naturally  convenient. 
Just  as  the  establishments  which  furnish  free  entertainment 
assist  in  the  downfall  of  the  young  man,  so  they  familiarise 
the  young  girl  with  the  presence  of  disreputable  characters 
and  permit  her  to  admire  their  stylish  dress  and  flashy 
jewelry. 

The  most  damning  charge  of  all,  however,  is  that  the 
Raines  Law  hotel  provides  the  greatest  known  facilities 
for  seduction.  Young  girls,  brought  by  unscrupulous  es- 
corts to  enjoy  the  entertainment  given,  are  regaled  on 
beverages  of  the  influence  of  which  they  are  ignorant, 
and,  by  the  aid  and  assistance  of  the  hotel  provision, 
fall  easy  victims.  That  this  is  no  imaginary  evil,  nor  one 
which  is  rare,  is  known  to  any  one  in  New  York  who  has 
eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  public  order,  the  Raines  Law 
hotel  is  unquestionably  pernicious.  It  is  impossible  to  form 
any  idea  of  the  number  of  thefts  and  robberies  committed 
by  prostitutes  and  their  male  retainers,  since  the  victims 
do  not  usually  make  complaint.  It  is  known,  however, 
that  such  crimes  are  constantly  taking  place.  They 
are  naturally  comparatively  infrequent  in  the  brothel  and 
in  the  apartments  of  the  isolated  prostitute :  in  the  former, 
because  the  proprietor  of  the  establishment  does  not  care 
to  have  the  reputation  for  violence;  in  the  latter,  because 
the  isolated  prostitute  does  not  wish  her  real  character  to 
be  known  to  her  neighbours.  Even  the  house  of  accom- 
modation is  generally  anxious  to  have  a  reputation  for 


140  Appendix 

safety.  But  the  criminal  prostitute  can  take  one  client 
after  another  to  a  Raines  Law  hotel  and  plunder  him  with 
the  aid  of  her  male  retainer;  and  if  one  were  to  make  a 
complaint,  it  is  a  simple  matter  for  the  woman  to  choose 
another  quarter  for  her  crimes. 

In  like  manner  the  brothel  and  the  isolated  prostitute 
with  fixed  station  are  anxious  to  avoid  the  reputation  for 
disease.  To  the  one  who  uses  a  score  of  Raines  Law  hotels 
indifferently,  it  makes  no  difference  how  many  persons  she 
contaminates.  Accordingly,  there  seems  to  be  good  reason 
for  the  opinion,  prevalent  among  New  York  physicians, 
that  the  Raines  Law  hotels  are  the  chief  factor  in  the 
spread  of  venereal  disease. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  evils  above  enumerated  are 
due  not  to  the  Raines  Law,  but  to  the  manner  in  which  it 
is  enforced.  Probably  not  ten  per  cent,  of  the  "fake" 
hotels  comply  with  the  regulations  of  the  fire,  health,  and 
building  departments.  Accordingly,  ninety  per  cent,  could 
be  wiped  out  of  existence  by  simply  enforcing  the  law. 
But  would  that  end  the  matter?  Hardly.  Instead  of 
going  out  of  existence,  the  owners  of  such  establishments 
would  be  slightly  more  careful  as  to  the  fulfilment  of  the 
requirements  of  those  departments.  At  a  somewhat  greater 
expense,  they  would  still  be  "hotels,"  and  would  still 
furnish  accommodations  for  vice. 

It  is  true  that  among  the  provisions  of  the  law,  the 
proprietor  or  tenant  is  required  to  prevent  the  premises 
from  becoming  "disorderly."  If  this  provision  were  rigidly 
enforced,  some  of  the  evils  could  no  doubt  be  reached. 
But  when  a  hundred  provisions  of  a  law  may  be  violated 
with  impunity,  there  is  little  chance  of  enforcing  any  one. 

Moreover,  those  who  are  best  acquainted  with  New 
York  City  are  agreed  that  there  is  no  chance  that  the  law 
will  ever  be  enforced.  The  popular  detestation  of  it 
precludes  all  possibility  of  enforcement. 


Raines  Law  Hotels  141 

So  far  as  the  problem  of  prostitution  is  concerned,  the 
essential  thing  is  to  put  an  end  to  the  abnormal  tendency 
to  make  hotels  out  of  saloons.  And  this  can  be  done  only 
by  relieving  the  saloon  proper  of  the  disadvantages  under 
which  it  now  labours,  or  by  imposing  an  additional  burden 
upon  the  hotel.  The  latter  policy  would  fall  under  the 
same  popular  detestation  with  the  Raines  Law  itself,  and 
so  would  seem  to  be  out  of  the  question.  Accordingly, 
the  only  alternative  which  appears  to  be  open  is  the  removal 
of  the  restriction  upon  the  selling  of  alcoholic  beverages 
on  Sunday.  It  is  not  claimed  that  even  such  a  measure 
would  remove  all  the  evils  that  the  Raines  Law,  as  it  has 
been  applied,  has  created.  It  would,  however,  prevent 
the  further  growth  of  the  evil  and  would  assist  in  making 
possible  an  effective  moral  control  of  vice. 

NOTE. — Provisions  of  Raines  Law  discriminating  between 
the  hotel  and  other  establishments  for  retailing  liquor  to  be 
drunk  on  the  premises.  Definition  of  "Hotel"  and  "Guest.'1 
Raines  Law,  §31: 

"It  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  corporation,  association, 
copartnership,  or  person,  whether  having  paid  such  tax  or 
not,  to  sell,  offer  or  expose  for  sale,  or  give  away,  any 
liquor: 

"a.  On  Sunday;  or  before  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
on  Monday;  or 

"b.  On  any  other  day  between  one  o'clock  and  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning ;  or 

"c.  On  the  day  of  a  general  or  special  election,  or  city 
election  or  town  meeting,  or  village  election,  within  one 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  any  voting  place,  while  the  polls  for 
such  election  or  town  meeting  shall  be  open;  or 

"d.  Within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  grounds  or 
premises  upon  which  any  State,  county,  town,  or  other 
agricultural  or  horticultural  fair  is  being  held,  unless  such 


142  Appendix 

grounds  or  premises  are  within  the  limits  of  a  city  con- 
taining one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  or 
more;  .  .  . 

"Clauses  'a,'  'c,'  and  'd'  of  this  section  are  subject  to 
the  following  exception: 

"The  holder  of  a  liquor  tax  certificate  under  subdivision 
one  of  section  eleven  of  this  act,  who  is  the  keeper  of  a  hotel, 
may  sell  liquor  to  the  guests  of  such  hotel,  .  .  .  with 
their  meals,  or  in  their  rooms  therein,  except  between  the 
hours  of  one  o'clock  and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  but 
not  in  the  barroom  or  other  similar  room  of  such  hotel; 
and  the  term  '  hotel '  as  used  in  this  act  shall  mean  a  build- 
ing regularly  used  and  kept  open  as  such  for  the  feeding  and 
lodging  of  guests,  where  all  who  conduct  themselves 
properly  and  who  are  able  and  ready  to  pay  for  their 
entertainment  are  received  if  there  be  accommodations 
for  them,  and  who,  without  any  stipulated  engagement  as 
to  the  duration  of  their  stay,  or  as  to  the  rate  of  compen- 
sation, are,  while  there,  supplied,  at  a  reasonable  charge, 
with  their  meals,  lodgings,  refreshment,  and  such  service 
and  attention  as  are  necessarily  incident  to  the  use  of  the 
place  as  a  temporary  home,  and  in  which  the  only  other 
dwellers  shall  be  the  family  and  servants  of  the  hotel- 
keeper;  and  which  shall  conform  to  the  following  require- 
ments, if  situate  in  a  city,  incorporated  village  of  twelve 
hundred  or  more  inhabitants,  or  within  two  miles  of  the 
corporate  limits  of  either: 

"  i.  The  laws,  ordinances,  rules,  and  regulations  relating 
to  hotels  and  hotel-keepers,  including  all  laws,  ordinances, 
rules,  and  regulations  of  the  state  or  locality  pertaining  to 
the  building,  fire,  and  health  department  in  relation  to 
hotels  and  hotel-keepers,  shall  be  fully  complied  with. 

"2.  Such  buildings  shall  contain  at  least  ten  bedrooms 
above  the  basement,  exclusive  of  those  occupied  by  the 


Raines  Law  Hotels  143 

family  and  servants,  each  room  properly  furnished  to 
accommodate  lodgers,  and  separated  by  partitions  at  least 
three  inches  thick,  extending  from  floor  to  ceiling,  with 
independent  access  to  each  room  by  a  door  opening  into  a 
hallway,  each  room  having  a  window  or  windows  with  not 
less  than  eight  square  feet  of  surface  opening  upon  a  street 
or  open  court,  light-shaft  or  open  air,  and  each  having  at 
least  eighty  square  feet  of  floor  area,  and  at  least  six 
hundred  cubic  feet  of  space  therein ;  a  dining-room  with  at 
least  three  hundred  square  feet  of  floor  area,  which  shall 
not  be  a  part  of  the  barroom,  with  tables,  and  having 
suitable  table  furniture  and  accommodations  for  at  least 
twenty  guests  therein  at  one  and  the  same  time,  and  a 
kitchen  and  conveniences  for  cooking  therein  sufficient 
to  provide  bona  fide  meals  at  one  and  the  same  time  for 
twenty  guests.  .  .  . 

"A  guest  of  a  hotel,  within  the  meaning  of  this  exception 
to  section  thirty-one  of  this  act,  is: 

"i.  A  person  who  in  good  faith  occupies  a  room  in  a 
hotel  as  a  temporary  home,  and  pays  the  regular  customary 
charges  for  such  occupancy,  but  who  does  not  occupy  such 
room  for  the  purpose  of  having  liquor  served  therein;  or 

"  2.  A  person  who,  during  the  hours  when  meals  are 
regularly  served  therein,  resorts  to  the  hotel  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  and  actually  orders  and  obtains  at  such  time, 
in  good  faith,  a  meal  therein," 


PART  II 

RECOMMENDATIONS      OF      THE 
.     COMMITTEE 


145 


RECOMMENDATIONS       OF     THE 
COMMITTEE 

A  CAREFUL  consideration  of  the  foregoing  re- 
port points  unmistakably  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  so-called  system  of  regulation  is  not  a  radical 
or  adequate  remedy  for  the  evils  connected  with 
prostitution,  even  in  their  merely  physical  aspect. 
For  the  members  of  this  Committee,  indeed,  the 
moral  grounds  alone  would  have  sufficed  to  stamp 
as  intolerable  the  proposition  that  the  public 
authorities  should  undertake  the  inspection  of 
houses  of  ill-fame  with  a  view  to  rendering  the 
practice  of  vice  innocuous  to  those  who  engage  in 
it.  We  recommend  to  those  persons  who  are  wont 
to  extol  this  system  as  a  kind  of  panacea  and  to 
deplore,  with  something  of  impatience  if  not  of 
contempt,  the  Puritanical  sentiment  which  prevails 
in  this  country,  and  which  renders  any  attempt  to 
introduce  such  a  system  impracticable,  an  atten- 
tive study  of  the  passages  in  the  above  report 
relating  to  regulation  and  its  results.  They  will 
find,  on  a  closer  study  of  the  results,  as  these 
appear  where  the  system  has  been  tried,  that  their 
vaunted  panacea  is  no  panacea  at  all,  and  that 

147 


148  The  Social  Evil 

their  confidence  in  its  merits  is  far  from  being 
supported  by  the  facts. 

But,  if  not  regulation,  what  then?  The  city 
of  New  York  is  rapidly  expanding  into  metropol- 
itan proportions.  Within  another  ten  years  its 
aspect  will,  in  many  ways,  be  transformed.  It  is 
certain  to  become  a  more  commodious  and  beauti- 
ful city  than  it  has  ever  been  before.  But  what 
will  this  material  splendour  avail  if  the  forces 
that  tend  to  debase  the  moral  life  of  its  people 
—and  especially  of  its  youth — are  permitted  to 
operate  unchecked?  The  Social  Evil  is  assuming 
alarming  dimensions.  What  is  needed  at  this 
time  is  a  definite  policy  with  regard  to  it ;  a  policy 
that  shall  not  attempt  the  impossible,  that  shall 
not  be  based  on  the  delusive  hope  of  radically 
altering  in  a  single  generation  the  evil  propensities 
of  the  human  heart,  or  of  repressing  vice  by  mere 
restrictive  legislation,  but  which,  none  the  less, 
shall  ever  recognise  as  an  ultimate  end  the  moral 
redemption  of  the  human  race  from  this  degrading 
evil,  and  which  shall  initiate  no  measure  and  advise 
no  step  not  conducive  to  that  end;  a  policy  that 
shall  be  practical  with  respect  to  the  immediate 
future,  and  shall  at  the  same  time  be  in  harmony 
with  the  ideals  which  are  cherished  by  the  best 
men  and  women  in  this  community. 

As  an  outline  of  such  a  policy  we  submit  the 
following: 

First,  strenuous  efforts  to  prevent  in  the  tene- 


Recommendations  of  the  Committee  149 

ment  houses  the  overcrowding  which  is  the  pro- 
lific source  of  sexual  immorality.  The  attempts 
to  provide  better  housing  for  the  poor,  praise- 
worthy and  deserving  of  recognition  as  they  are, 
have  as  yet  produced  but  a  feeble  impression  upon 
existing  conditions,  and  are  but  the  bare  begin- 
nings of  a  work  which  should  be  enlarged  and 
continued  with  unflagging  vigour  and  devotion. 
If  we  wish  to  abate  the  Social  Evil,  we  must 
attack  it  at  its  sources. 

Secondly,  the  furnishing,  by  public  provision 
or  private  munificence,  of  purer  and  more  elevating 
forms  of  amusement  to  supplant  the  attractions 
of  the  low  dance-halls,  theatres,  and  other  similar 
places  of  entertainment  that  only  serve  to  stim- 
ulate sensuality  and  to  debase  the  taste.  The 
pleasures  of  the  people  need  to  be  looked  after 
far  more  earnestly  than  has  been  the  case  hitherto. 
If  we  would  banish  the  kind  of  amusements  that 
degrade,  we  must  offer  to  the  public  in  this  large 
cosmopolitan  city,  where  the  appetite  for  pleasure 
is  keen,  some  sort  of  suitable  alternatives. 

Thirdly,  whatever  can  be  done  to  improve  the 
material  conditions  of  the  wage-earning  class, 
and  especially  of  young  wage-earning  women, 
will  be  directly  in  line  with  the  purpose  which  is 
here  kept  in  view.  It  is  a  sad  and  humiliating 
admission  to  make,  at  the  opening  of  the  twentieth 
century,  in  one  of  the  greatest  centres  of  civilisation 
in  the  world,  that,  in  numerous  instances,  it  is 


150  The  Social  Evil 

not  passion  or  corrupt  inclination,  but  the  force 
of  actual  physical  want,  that  impels  young  women 
along  the  road  to  ruin. 

The  three  suggestions  mentioned  above  indicate 
permanent  causes  to  which  the  increase  of  the 
Social  Evil  may  be  traced.  A  better  system  of 
moral  education  may  also  be  mentioned  as  an 
imperative  necessity  in  this  connection.  As  Dr. 
Prince  A.  Morrow,  in  a  paper  on  "The  Prophylaxis 
of  Venereal  Diseases,"  says: 

"This  campaign  of  education  should  be  extended 
to  the  high  schools  and  colleges  for  young  men. 
Unfortunately,  this  has  always  been  a  forbidden 
topic.  There  is  no  reason  why  young  men  should 
not  be  forewarned  of  the  pitfalls  and  dangers  which 
beset  their  pathway.  Whatever  may  be  thought 
of  the  innocuity  of  'sowing  wild  oats,'  its  con- 
sequences are  most  often  disastrous  to  the  health 
of  the  individual.  They  should  also  be  taught 
that  self-restraint,  personal  purity,  and  respect  for 
women  are  among  the  surest  foundations  of 
character." 

But  to  come  to  the  points  that  more  directly 
bear  upon  the  problem  as  it  presents  itself  in  the 
city  of  New  York. 

From  a  recent  report  of  a  committee  of  the 
County  Medical  Association,  it  appears  that  the 
great  city  of  New  York  provides  for  the  reception 
and  treatment  of  women  suffering  from  venereal 
diseases  only  twenty-six  beds  in  the  City  Hospital 


Recommendations  of  the  Committee    151 

on  Blackwell's  Island.  We  recommend  the  ade- 
quate increase  of  hospital  accommodations  for 
this  class  of  patients.  This  recommendation  is 
based  on  grounds  of  public  health  as  well  as  of 
humanity  to  the  sufferers.  The  public  health  is 
endangered,  in  so  far  as  contagion  is  allowed  to 
spread  uncontrolled,  and  surely  the  sufferers 
themselves  are  entitled  to  the  mercy  of  their 
fellow-beings.  To  justify  the  exclusion  of  such 
patients  from  the  hospitals,  and  in  answer  to  the 
question,  What  then  shall  become  of  them?  it 
has  been  said:  "Let  them  rot  in  their  own  vices." 
But  this  is  a  hard  saying,  all  the  more  when  it  is 
remembered  that  not  a  few  of  the  sufferers  are 
but  the  victims  of  the  sins  of  others,  bearing  in 
their  shattered  constitutions  and  in  the  loathsome 
disease  inflicted  upon  them  the  penalty  of  suffer- 
ing and  humiliation  which  they  themselves  have 
done  nothing  to  deserve. 

The  Committee  further  recommend  that 
minors  who  are  notoriously  debauched  shall  be 
coercively  confined  in  asylums  or  reformatories. 
The  minors  who  are  engaged  in  prostitution 
constitute  at  once  the  most  dangerous  and  the 
most  pitiable  element  in  the  problem  of  the  Social 
Evil.  They  are  the  most  active  sources  of  con- 
tagion in  every  sense.  In  their  case  the  prospect  is, 
at  the  same  time,  most  hopeful  of  waging  effective 
warfare  on  the  Social  Evil,  since  they  are  young 
enough,  if  brought  under  the  right  influence,  to  be 


i52  The  Social  Evil 

rescued  from  the  army  of  the  vicious  and  restored 
to  honest  callings. 

But  above  all  the  Committee  recommend  a 
change  in  the  attitude  of  the  law.  As  it  stands 
at  present,  the  law  regards  prostitution  as  a  crime. 
If  we  are  ever  to  escape  from  the  present  impossible 
conditions,  it  seems  imperative  to  draw  the  dis- 
tinction sharply  between  sin  and  crime.  The 
proposition  is  to  exclude  prostitution  from  the 
category  of  crime.  We  hasten  to  add  that  this 
proposition  should  by  no  means  be  understood 
as  a  plea  in  favour  of  laxer  moral  judgments.  A 
sin  is  not  less  odious  because  it  is  not  treated  as 
a  crime.  Sins  may  even  be  incomparably  more 
heinous  than  offences  which  the  law  visits  with 
punishment.  Nevertheless,  some  of  the  most 
grievous  sins  are  not  subjected  to  legal  penalties, 
simply  because  it  is  recognised  that  such  penalties 
cannot  be  enforced,  and  a  law  on  the  statute  book 
that  cannot  be  enforced  is  a  whip  in  the  hands  of 
the  blackmailer.  Corruption  in  the  police  force 
can  never  be  extirpated  until  this  prolific  source 
of  it  is  stopped. 

But  it  may  be  asked:  What,  then,  is  to  be  the 
status  of  prostitution  in  the  city  of  New  York? 
In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  driven  out  of  tenement 
and  apartment  houses;  the  evil  must  be  rigidly 
excluded  from  the  homes  of  the  poor.  Secondly, 
it  must  not  be  segregated  in  separate  quarters  of 
the  city,  for  the  reason  that  such  quarters  tend 


Recommendations  of  the  Committee    153 

to  become  nests  of  crime  and  veritable  plague 
spots,  and  for  the  further  reason  that  segregation 
does  not  segregate,  just  as  it  has  been  shown  that 
regulation  does  not  regulate.  Thirdly,  all  public, 
obtrusive  manifestations  of  prostitution  shall  be 
sternly  repressed.  Not  prostitution  itself,  when 
withdrawn  from  the  public  eye  so  as  to  be  notice- 
able only  to  those  who  deliberately  go  in  search 
of  it,  shall  be  punishable:  but  all  such  manifesta- 
tions of  it  as  belong  under  the  head  of  public 
nuisance.  The  result  of  the  adoption  of  this  policy 
will  be,  indeed,  the  continued  existence  of  houses 
of  ill-fame,  partly  in  streets  formerly  residential 
and  deserted  by  the  better  class  of  occupants, 
partly  scattered  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  great 
thoroughfares  and  elsewhere,  and  these  will  remain 
undisturbed  under  the  condition  that  they  remain 
unobtrusive.  The  serious  and  weighty  objections 
that  lie  against  the  existence  of  such  houses  are 
well  known.  But  they  are  in  every  case  objections 
which  really  apply  to  the  existence  of  prostitution 
itself.  They  could  only  be  removed  if  prostitution 
itself  could  summarily  be  extirpated.  But  this, 
in  the  present  state  of  the  moral  evolution  of  the 
race,  is  as  yet  impossible.  Recognising,  then, 
that  prostitution,  although  it  ought  not  to  exist, 
does  and  witt  for  an  indefinable  time  continue  to 
exist  among  us,  we  are  bound,  as  men  advising  for 
the  moral  welfare  of  our  great  city  in  the  immedi- 
ate future,  to  point  out  that  form  of  the  evil 


154  The  Social  Evil 

which,  all  things  considered,  will  work  the  least 
harm. 

The  better  housing  for  the  poor,  purer  forms  of 
amusement,  the  raising  of  the  condition  of  labour, 
especially  of  female  labour,  better  moral  education, 
minors  more  and  more  withdrawn  from  the  clutches 
of  vice  by  means  of  reformatories,  the  spread  of 
contagion  checked  by  more  adequate  hospital 
accommodations,  the  evil  itself  unceasingly  con- 
demned by  public  opinion  as  a  sin  against  morality, 
and  punished  as  a  crime  with  stringent  penalties 
whenever  it  takes  the  form  of  a  public  nuisance: 
—these  are  the  methods  of  dealing  with  it  upon 
which  the  members  of  the  Committee  have  united 
and  from  which  they  hope  for  the  abatement  of 
some  of  the  worst  of  its  consequences  at  present, 
and  for  the  slow  and  gradual  restriction  of  its 
scope  in  the  future. 

In  addition,  we  would  recommend  the  creation 
of  a  special  body  of  morals  police,  analogous  to 
the  sanitary  police  already  existing,  selected  on 
grounds  of  exceptional  judgment  and  fitness,  to 
whom  and  to  whom  alone  should  be  entrusted  the 
duties  of  surveillance  and  repression  contemplated 
in  the  above  recommendations. 


APPENDIX 

PRESENT  CONDITIONS    IN   NEW   YORK 

TRADING  in  vice  has  had  a  rapid  development  in  New 
York  City  within  the  last  few  years.  A  combination  of 
circumstances  has  made  this  possible.  Through  the 
Raines  Law,  the  entrance  upon  a  life  of  prostitution  became 
attractive  and  easy.  The  appearance  of  the  "cadet" 
formed  the  connecting  link  between  the  Raines  Law  hotel 
and  the  house  of  prostitution.  The  partnership  between 
some  of  the  officials  of  the  Police  Department  and  the 
traffickers  of  prostitution  resulted  in  a  system  of  reciprocity. 
Immunity  from  arrest  was  exchanged  for  profits  from  the 
trade  in  vice.  When  a  house  containing  not  more  than  ten 
inmates,  exclusive  of  the  proprietress,  and  known  as  a 
"fifty-cent  house,"  could  afford  to  pay  an  initiation  fee  of 
$500  to  the  wardman,  and  $50  a  month  for  the  privilege 
of  continuing  in  this  illegal  occupation  unmolested,  an 
estimate  can  be  formed  as  to  the  amount  of  trade  which 
must  be  carried  on  within. 

In  one  police  precinct,  not  more  than  a  mile  square,  there 
were  known  to  be  in  1900  about  forty  such  houses.  In 
the  same  precinct  there  were  some  sixty  well-known  cen- 
tres of  prostitution  in  tenement  houses.  The  employees 
of  these  houses  openly  cried  their  wares  upon  the  streets, 
and  children  of  the  neighbourhood  were  given  pennies  and 
candy  to  distribute  the  cards  of  the  prostitutes.  A  system 
of  "watch-boys"  or  "light-houses"  was  also  adopted, 


156  Appendix 

by  which  the  news  of  any  impending  danger  could  be 
carried  throughout  a  precinct  in  a  very  few  minutes. 
Honest  police  officers  who  attempted  to  perform  their 
duties  were  defied  by  the  "cadets"  and  "light-houses." 
For  a  police  officer  to  incur  the  enmity  of  a  powerful 
"madame"  meant  the  transfer  of  that  officer  "for  the  good 
of  the  service,"  if  not  to  another  precinct,  at  least  to  an 
undesirable  post  in  the  same  precinct.  A  virtual  reign 
of  terror  existed  among  the  honest  patrolmen  and  the 
ignorant  citizens  of  these  districts.  Many  times,  citizens 
from  such  quarters  have  said  that  they  would  gladly  tell 
what  they  could  not  help  but  see,  were  it  not  that  they 
feared  bodily  harm  and  the  destruction  of  their  means  of 
livelihood  if  they  spoke.  Little  by  little  the  facts  were 
placed  on  record  in  the  trials  of  police  officers  and  "cadets." 
The  Cadet  and  his  Victim. — The  "cadet"  is  a  young  man 
averaging  from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  years  of  age,  who, 
after  having  served  a  short  apprenticeship  as  a  "light- 
house," secures  a  staff  of  girls  and  lives  upon  their  earnings. 
He  dresses  better  than  the  ordinary  neighbourhood  boy, 
wears  an  abundance  of  cheap  jewelry,  and  has  ususally 
cultivated  a  limited  amount  of  gentlemanly  demeanour. 
His  occupation  is  professional  seduction.  By  occasional 
visits  he  succeeds  in  securing  the  friendship  of  some  at- 
tractive shop-girl.  By  apparently  kind  and  generous 
treatment,  and  by  giving  the  young  girl  glimpses  of  a 
standard  of  living  which  she  had  never  dared  hope  to 
attain,  this  friendship  rapidly  ripens  into  infatuation. 
The  Raines  Law  hotel  or  the  "furnished-room  house," 
with  its  cafe  on  the  ground  floor,  is  soon  visited  for  refresh-  ' 
ments.  After  a  drugged  drink,  the  girl  wakens  and  finds 
herself  at  the  mercy  of  her  supposed  friend.  Through  fear 
and  promises  of  marriage  she  casts  her  fortunes  with  her 
companion  and  goes  to  live  with  him.  The  companion 
disappears;  and  the  shop-girl  finds  herself  an  inmate  of  a 


Present  Conditions  in  New  York     157 

house  of  prostitution.  She  is  forced  to  receive  visitors 
of  the  house.  For  each  visitor  the  girl  receives  a  brass 
or  pasteboard  check  from  the  cashier  of  the  house  entitling 
her  to  twenty-five  cents.  The  "cadet"  returns  to  the 
house  at  frequent  intervals,  takes  the  checks  from  his 
victim,  and  cashes  them  at  the  cashier's  desk. 

Within  the  last  year,  six  "cadets"  have  been  sent  to 
State  prison  for  abducting  girls  under  the  age  of  eighteen 
years.  The  facts  were  substantially  similar  in  all  the 
cases,  and  in  a  majority  of  them  the  victims  were  physical 
wrecks  when  rescued. 

The  victim  of  the  "cadet"  is  usually  a  young  girl  of 
foreign  birth  who  knows  little  or  nothing  of  the  conditions 
of  American  life.  She  has  just  reached  womanhood,  and 
is  taught  by  her  parents  that  the  time  has  come  for  her 
to  look  forward  to  marriage.  Very  often,  the  parents 
themselves  are  highly  flattered  by  the  attentions  which  are 
being  paid  to  their  daughter  by  such  a  prosperous-appearing 
young  man.  The  conditions  are  all  favourable  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  purpose  for  which  the  "cadet" 
began  his  attentions.  The  early  teachings  of  the  young 
girl  are  propitious  for  the  consummation  of  her  destruction. 
She  is  taught  that  obedience  should  be  unquestioned,  and 
that  the  word  of  the  husband  in  the  household  is  law.  The 
"cadet"  relentlessly  uses  these  weapons  which  have  been 
placed  in  his  hands,  and  he  soon  finds  himself  in  possession 
of  this  money-maker  whose  receipts  will  yield  him  ordina- 
rily forty  or  fifty  dollars  a  week.  If  the  young  girl  succeeds 
in  escaping  from  the  house  of  prostitution,  she  prefers,  in 
a  majority  of  cases,  to  become  a  street-walker  rather 
than  to  return  home  and  to  face  the  disgrace  which  awaits 
her  there. 

Conditions  in  Tenement  Houses. — The  revenue-producing 
power  of  the  sale  of  immunity  by  the  police  seemed  to  make 
the  appetite  of  the  police  insatiable.  The  infamy  of  the 


158  Appendix 

private  house,  with  all  the  horrors  arising  from  the 
"cadet"  system,  did  not  satisfy  official  greed.  The  tene- 
ment houses  were  levied  upon,  and  the  prostitutes  began  to 
ply  their  trade  therein  openly.  In  many  of  these  tenement 
houses  as  many  as  fifty  children  resided.  An  acquaintance 
by  the  children  with  adult  vices  was  inevitable.  Almost 
any  child  on  the  East  Side  in  New  York  will  tell  you  what 
a  "nafke  bias"  is.  The  children  of  the  tenements  eagerly 
watch  the  new  sights  in  their  midst.  The  statistics  of 
venereal  diseases  among  children  and  the  many  revolting 
stories  from  the  Red  Light  district  tell  how  completely 
they  learned  the  lessons  taught  them. 

In  the  argument  before  the  Cities  Committee  at  Albany 
in  April,  1901,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen 
presented  certain  statistics  founded  upon  an  inspection 
of  125  tenement  houses  in  which  prostitutes  were  known 
to  reside  and  to  ply  their  trade.  This  statement  gave  rise 
to  violent  attempts  at  refutation  by  prominent  officials 
both  at  Albany  and  in  New  York  City.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  becloud  the  issue  by  statements  of  these  officials 
that  the  virtue  of  the  poor  had  been  assailed  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  Fifteen.  Our  then  Police  Commissioner,  whose 
ignorance  of  conditions  would  have  been  humorous  rather 
than  pathetic  were  not  the  facts  so  serious,  stated  that 
there  was  not  a  disorderly  tenement-house  below  Fourteenth 
Street;  that  he  had  lived  in  that  neighbourhood  for  many 
years  and  knew  what  he  was  talking  about.  In  spite  of 
his  vigorous  denial,  complaints  were  received  by  the 
Committee  of  Fifteen  and  evidence  was  easily  collected 
against  prostitutes  in  the  street  in  which  he  himself  resided. 

In  the  work  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen,  evidence  was 
secured  in  over  three  hundred1  separate  disorderly  apart- 

1  It  is  impossible  with  such  a  limited  staff  of  workers  as  were  employed 
by  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  to  approximate  the  number  of  prostitutes 
or  houses  of  prostitution  in  New  York  City.  The  figures  given  represent 


Present  Conditions  in  New  York    159 

ments  in  tenement  houses  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Over 
two  hundred  of  these  tenants  were  removed  under  the 
new  Tenement  House  Law  which  went  into  effect  July  i, 
1 90 1 .  Authentic  reports  reached  the  Committee  that  many 
of  the  tenement-house  prostitutes  were  retiring  into  private 
houses  of  prostitution. 

It  is  certain  that  the  houses  of  prostitution  are  not 
flaunting  their  wares  upon  the  streets  in  the  manner  of  a 
year  ago.  Street-walking  is  also  far  less  frequent.  A 
number  of  the  more  notorious  dives  have  either  changed 
hands  or  have  closed  their  doors.  The  most  widely  known 
proprietor  of  houses  of  prostitution  in  New  York  City  is 
now  serving  a  term  in  prison  upon  evidence  secured  by  the 
Committee  of  Fifteen.  The  proprietor  of  several  of  the 
lowest  dives  is  at  the  present  time  a  fugitive  from  justice, 
having  forfeited  his  bail.  Three  police  officers  who  were 
shown  to  have  been  in  partnership  with  vice  have  already 
been  convicted,  and  a  half  dozen  are  now  awaiting  trial. 
As  a  result  of  the  whole  movement  the  prospect  for  a 
reasonable  control  of  the  Social  Evil  in  New  York  City  is 
more  favourable  at  the  present  time  than  it  has  been  for 
many  years. 

cases  where  corroborated  evidence  was  secured  by  the  Committee. 
There  are  no  trustworthy  statistics  in  existence  covering  the  general 
question  of  the  Social  Evil  in  New  York. 


PART  III 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT 
1902-1912 


161 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  EUROPEAN  MOVEMENT 

IN  the  body  of  this  book  frequent  references 
are  made  to  the  international  conference  held  at 
Brussels,  and  many  of  the  illustrations  are  taken 
from  the  discussions  in  that  conference.  Shortly 
after  the  first  edition  of  this  book  appeared,  a 
second  conference  was  held,  of  still  greater  signifi- 
cance. It  seems,  therefore,  eminently  desirable  to 
give  some  more  information  about  these  important 
conferences. 

.  In  order,  however,  to  explain  their  origin,  it  is 
necessary  to  revert  to  the  great  struggle  in  England 
which  was  indirectly  responsible  for  them.  In  the 
body  of  this  work  x  several  references  are  made 
to  the  English  episode.  As  this  has  now  been  to 
a  large  extent  forgotten,  we  shall  attempt  here- 
with a  brief  recital  of  the  facts.2 

1  Pp.  101-105.    See  also  pp.  68,  82. 

3  A  good  account  of  the  movement  is  found  in  Benjamin  Scott,  A 
State  Iniquity:  Its  Rise,  Extension,  and  Overthrow.  London,  1890.  For 
the  full  title,  see  the  Bibliography.  A  briefer  work  is  A  Short  Summary 
of  the  History  of  State  Regulated  Vice  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Compiled 
by  the  Friends'  Association  for  abolishing  State  Regulated  Vice.  Lon- 
don, 1900.  Cf.  also  in  especial  Personal  Reminiscences  of  a  Great  Crusade. 
By  Josephine  E.  Butler.  London,  1876. 

163 


164  The  Social  Evil 

I.     The  Repeal  of  the  English  Laws 

In  1862  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  ad- 
miralty in  London  to  inquire  into  the  state  of 
venereal  disease  in  the  army  and  navy,  and  to 
report  upon  the  working  of  the  regulation  of 
prostitution  in  foreign  ports.  The  committee 
reported  against  the  introduction  of  the  foreign 
system,  but  the  contents  of  the  report  were  not 
published.  On  June  20,  1864,  Lord  Clarence 
Paget,  the  secretary  to  the  admiralty,  introduced 
a  "Bill  for  the  Prevention  of  Contagious  Diseases 
at  certain  Naval  and  Military  Stations."  It 
so  happened  that  the  public  was  at  the  time 
considerably  exercised  over  the  ravages  of 
disease  among  cattle,  and  that  parliament  had 
passed  various  stringent  acts  under  the  title  of 
"Contagious  Diseases  (Animal)  Acts."  When 
the  new  bill  was  introduced  with  the  short  title 
of  "Contagious  Diseases  Prevention  Act,"  1864, 
the  greater  part  of  the  public  thought  that  it  was 
another  animals  act.  The  bill  received  scarcely 
any  discussion  in  parliament,  and  became  a  law 
on  July  29,  1 864.  It  provided,  among  other  things, 
for  the  compulsory  examination  of  these  unfortun- 
ate women.  The  act  was  limited  to  three  years, 
and  applied  to  eleven  military  stations  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  On  June  n,  1866,  it  was 
continued,  with  two  new  features,  namely,  a 
register  and  a  periodical  examination,  and  it  was 


The  European  Movement  165 

now  extended  to  Windsor.  In  1869,  a  select 
committee  was  appointed  to  consider  the  advis- 
ability of  extending  the  operation  of  the  act  to 
London,  and  on  a  favourable  report  from  this 
committee  the  law  of  August  1 1,  1869,  was  enacted, 
increasing  the  number  of  localities  subject  to  the 
law  to  eighteen.  During  the  same  year  the 
system  was  extended  to  most  of  the  military 
settlements  abroad,  as  well  as  to  Canada,  the 
Australian  colonies,  and  British  India. 

At  the  very  outset  a  note  of  opposition  was 
sounded  by  Harriet  Martineau  in  a  series  of  lead- 
ing articles  in  the  Daily  News.  But  it  was  not 
until  the  extension  of  the  system  to  London  that 
organised  opposition  made  itself  felt.  In  1869, 
Miss  Martineau  wrote  four  more  letters  to  the 
Daily  News  over  the  signature  "An  English- 
woman," and  on  New  Year's  day,  1870,  a  formal 
protest  was  drawn  up  and  signed  by  a  number  of 
prominent  women,  including  Harriet  Martineau, 
Florence  Nightingale,  Mary  Carpenter,  and  Joseph- 
ine E.  Butler.  The  protest,  to  which  thousands 
of  names  were  subsequently  added,  was  as  follows : 

We,  the  undersigned  enter  our  solemn  PROTEST  against 
these  Acts : 

ist.  Because,  involving  as  they  do  such  a  momentous 
change  in  the  legal  safeguards  hitherto  enjoyed  by  women 
in  common  with  men,  they  have  been  passed  not  only 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  country,  but  unknown  to 
Parliament  itself;  and  we  hold  that  neither  the  represent- 


1 66  The  Social  Evil 

atives  of  the  People,  nor  the  Press,  fulfil  the  duties  which 
are  expected  of  them,  when  they  allow  such  legislation  to 
take  place  without  the  fullest  discussion. 

2d.  Because,  so  far  as  women  are  concerned,  they  remove 
every  guarantee  of  personal  security  which  the  law  has 
established  and  held  sacred,  and  put  their  reputation, 
their  freedom,  and  their  persons  absolutely  in  the  power  of 
the  police. 

3d.  Because  the  law  is  bound,  in  any  country  professing 
to  give  civil  liberty  to  its  subjects,  to  define  clearly  an  offence 
which  it  punishes. 

4th.  Because  it  is  unjust  to  punish  the  sex  who  are  the 
victims  of  a  vice,  and  leave  unpunished  the  sex  who  are 
the  main  cause,  both  of  the  vice  and  its  dreaded  conse- 
quences; and  we  consider  that  liability  to  arrest,  forced, 
surgical  examination,  and  (where  this  is  resisted)  impris- 
onment with  hard  labour,  to  which  these  Acts  subject 
women,  are  punishment  of  the  most  degrading  kind. 

5th.  Because,  by  such  a  system,  the  path  of  evil  is  made 
more  easy  to  our  sons,  and  to  the  whole  of  the  youth  of 
England;  inasmuch  as  a  moral  restraint  is  withdrawn  the 
moment  the  State  recognises,  and  provides  convenience 
for,  the  practice  of  a  vice  which  it  thereby  declares  to  be 
necessary  and  venial. 

6th.  Because  these  measures  are  cruel  to  the  women  who 
come  under  their  action — violating  the  feelings  of  those 
whose  sense  of  shame  is  not  wholly  lost,  and  further 
brutalising  even  the  most  abandoned. 

7th.  Because  the  disease  which  these  Acts  seek  to  remove 
has  never  been  removed  by  any  such  legislation.  The 
advocates  of  the  system  have  utterly  failed  to  show,  by 
statistics  or  otherwise  that  these  regulations  have,  in  any 
case,  after  several  years'  trial,  and  when  applied  to  one 
sex  only,  diminished  disease,  reclaimed  the  fallen,  or  im- 
proved the  general  morality  of  the  country.  We  have, 


The  European  Movement  167 

on  the  contrary,  the  strongest  evidence  to  show  that  in 
Paris  and  other  continental  cities  where  women  have  long 
been  outraged  by  this  forced  inspection,  the  public  health 
and  morals  are  worse  than  at  home. 

8th.  Because  the  conditions  of  this  disease,  in  the  first 
instance,  are  moral  not  physical.  The  moral  evil  through 
which  the  disease  makes  its  way  separates  the  case  entirely 
from  that  of  the  plague,  or  other  scourges,  which  have  been 
placed  under  police  control  or  sanitary  care.  We  hold 
that  we  are  bound,  before  rushing  into  the  experiment 
of  legalising  a  revolting  vice,  to  try  to  deal  with  the  causes 
of  the  evil,  and  we  dare  to  believe  that  with  wiser  teaching 
and  more  capable  legislation,  those  causes  would  not  be 
beyond  control. 

A  ladies'  national  association  was  thereupon 
formed,  with  Mrs.  Butler  as  the  leading  force.  It 
was  followed  by  a  similar  movement  among  the  men, 
known  in  London  as  "The  Metropolitan  United 
Contagious  Diseases  Acts  Association."  The  ex- 
ecutive committee  included  John  Stuart  Mill, 
Professor  Sheldon  Amos,  Jacob  Bright,  M.  P.,  A.  J. 
Mundella,  M.  P.,  Rev.  Frederick  D.  Maurice,  and 
many  other  eminent  men.  Similar  associations 
were  formed  in  other  cities.  Among  the  lead- 
ing members  were  Professor  Stuart,  Professor  F. 
W.  Newman,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  John  Morley. 
So  vehement  did  the  opposition  now  become 
that  a  Royal  Commission  was  appointed  at  the 
close  of  1 870.  This  commission,  however,  brought 
in  a  rather  non-committal  report.  The  protest- 
ants  now  set  to  work  vigorously  to  inaugurate  a 


1 68  The  Social  Evil 

national  campaign.  Owing  to  the  difficulties  of 
public  discussion  at  the  time  the  progress  was  at 
first  slow.  Various  non-conformist  religious  or- 
ganisations, like  the  Wesleyan,  the  Friends,  etc., 
formed  separate  committees  designed  to  secure  the 
repeal  of  the  Acts. 

The  Italian  patriot  Mazzini,  the  eminent  Bel- 
gian economist  de  Laveleye,  and  the  French  poet 
Victor  Hugo  expressed  their  sympathy  for  the 
movement.  Above  all,  the  remarkable  testimony 
of  John  Stuart  Mill  before  the  commission  of  1870 
was  reprinted  and  spread  broadcast.1 

Tn  1875,  an  international  association  was  formed 
in  order  to  help  the  movement.  By  slow  degrees 
and  by  dint  of  hard  work,  lavish  expenditure,  and 
numerous  publications,  most  of  which  are  noted 
in  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  volume, 
public  opinion  was  gradually  influenced  and  won 
around.  From  year  to  year  increasing  minorities 
were  obtained  for  the  bills  introduced  to  secure 
repeal.  Finally,  when  Mr.  Stansfeld  moved  on 
April  20,  1885,  "that  this  House  disapproves  of 
the  compulsory  examination  of  women  under 
the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,"  the  motion  was 
carried  by  a  vote  of  182  to  no.  In  the  follow- 
ing year,  the  "Contagious  Diseases  Acts  Repeal 
Bill"  was  passed  without  any  opposition,  becom- 

1  The  Evidence  of  John  Stuart  Mill  taken  before  the  Royal  Commission 
of  1870  on  the  Administration  and  Operation  of  the  Contagious  Diseases 
Acts  of  1866  and  1869.  24  pp. 


The  European  Movement  169 

ing  a  law  on  April  16,  1886.  Thus  came  to 
an  end,  probably  for  all  time,  the  attempt  to 
introduce  into  England  the  continental  system 
of  reglementation. 

2.    The  International  Abolitionist  Federation 

Reference  has  been  made  above  to  the  interna- 
tional association.  This  was  formed  on  March  19, 
1875,  under  the  title  of  "The  International  Fed- 
eration for  the  Abolition  of  State  Regulation  of 
Vice."  The  founding  of  the  international  fed- 
eration was  due,  in  great  measure,  to  the  medi- 
cal congress  of  Vienna  in  1873.  At  that  time 
the  almost  universal  opinion  of  physicians  was 
favourable  to  the  system  of  regulation  or  re- 
glementation, which  always  meant  at  least  two 
things:  the  compulsory  examination  of  prosti- 
tutes, and  the  registration  or  licensing  of  houses 
of  ill-fame.  For  a  long  time  the  Belgian  system 
was  recognised  as  a  model ;  and  at  the  international 
medical  congresses  held  in  Brussels  in  1852,  in 
Paris  in  1867,  and  in  Florence  in  1869,  various 
propositions  were  advanced  to  extend  this  system 
throughout  Europe  and  to  make  it  uniform. 
Finally,  the  medical  congress  of  Vienna,  in  1873, 
passed  a  resolution  demanding  the  prompt  elab- 
oration of  an  international  law  based  on  the 
Brussels  system. 

It  was  as  an  answer  to  this  demand  that  the 
International  Federation  for  the  Abolition  of 


1 70  The  Social  Evil 

State  Regulation  of  Vice  was  formed.  The  impulse 
came  largely  from  the  English  combatants,  and 
especially  Mrs.  Butler.  Its  headquarters  were 
to  be  at  Geneva,  under  the  name  of  Federation 
Abolitionniste  Internationale,  with  national  com- 
mittees in  the  leading  countries.  Its  object  was 
declared  to  be  the  abolition  of  prostitution, 
especially  regarded  as  a  legal  or  tolerated  insti- 
tution. "Holding  that  the  organisation  of  pro- 
stitution by  public  authority  is  a  hygienic  mistake, 
a  social  injustice,  a  moral  monstrosity,  and  a 
judicial  crime,  the  Federation  endeavours  to  arouse 
opposition  to  the  system  and  to  secure  its  condem- 
nation everywhere."  The  Federation  condemns 
in  its  platform  the  attempt  to  make  women  bear 
the  sole  burden  of  the  system.  It  maintains  that 
the  autonomy  of  the  human  being  has  its  corollary 
in  individual  responsibility,  and  it  declares  that 
through  the  system  of  reglementation  in  vogue 
the  state  upsets  the  very  conception  of  responsi- 
bility. It  declares  that  the  state  should  limit 
itself  in  the  domain  of  prostitution  to  the  pro- 
tection of  minors,  to  the  punishment  of  violence 
or  fraud,  and  to  the  repression  of  public  nuisances, 
and  it  contends  that  whatever  laws  are  enacted 
be  applied  to  men  as  well  as  to  women.  Finally, 
it  emphasises  the  need  of  a  study  of  constructive 
measures  to  diminish  the  moral  and  economic 
causes  of  this  social  plague.1 

1  Statuts,    Federation   A  bolitionniste    Internationale,   Geneva    March, 


The  European  Movement  171 

The  International  Abolitionist  Federation  holds 
annual  conferences,  the  last  having  taken  place  in 
September,  1911,  at  Colmar  in  Alsace,  where  the 
regulation  system  was  abolished  twenty  years  ago. 
At  intervals  of  every  few  years,  moreover,  the 
federation  holds  a  more  formal  congress,  in  which 
it  seeks  to  prepare  the  way  for  effective  action. 
The  first  congress  took  place  in  Geneva,  in  1877, 
and  the  tenth  congress  in  the  same  city  in  1908,  the 

1875:  "Art.  4 — La  Federation  r^vendique,  dans  le  domaine  special 
de  la  legislation  en  matiere  de  mceurs,  1'autonomie  de  la  personne 
humaine,  qui  a  son  corollaire  dans  la  responsabilite  individuelle. 

"  D'une  part,  elle  condamne  toute  mesure  d'exception  appliqu^e 
sous  pretexte  de  moeurs; 

"  D'autre  part,  elle  affirme  qu'en  instituant  une  reglementation  qui 
veut  procurer  a  I'homme  s^curite"  et  irresponsabilite"  dans  le  vice, 
1'Etat  bouleverse  la  notion  de  responsabilite,  base  de  toute  morale. 

"  En  faisant  peser  sur  la  femme  seule  les  consequences  legales  d'un 
acte  commun,  1'Etat  propage  cette  idee  funeste  qu'il  y  aurait  une 
morale  differente  pour  chaque  sexe. 

"Art.  5 — Considerant  que  le  simple  fait  de  prostitution  personnelle 
et  privee  ne  releve  que  de  la  conscience  et  ne  constitue  pas  un  delit, 
la  Federation  declare  que  1'intervention  de  1'Etat  en  matiere  de  mceurs 
doit  se  limiter  aux  points  suivants: 

"  Punition  de  tout  attentat  a  la  pudeur,  commis  ou  tente"  centre  des 
mineurs  ou  des  personnes  de  1'un  ou  de  1'autre  sexe  assimilees  aux 
mineurs.  Chaque  legislation  particuliere  doit  determiner  exactement 
la  limite  et  les  conditions  de  cette  minorite  spedale. 

"  Punition  de  tout  attentat  a  la  pudeur  accompli  ou  tente"  par  des 
moyens  violents  ou  frauduleux  centre  des  personnes  de  tout  age  et 
de  tout  sexe. 

"  Punition  de  la  provocation  publique  a  la  debauche  et  du  proxene"- 
tisme,  dans  celles  de  leurs  manifestations  deiictueuses  qui  peuvent  6tre 
constatees  sans  prSter  a  1'arbitraire  et  sans  ramener,  sous  une  autre 
forme,  le  regime  special  de  la  police  des  mceurs. 

"  Les  mesures  prises  a  cet  e"gard  doivent  s'appliquer  aux  homines 
comme  aux  femmes. 


172  The  Social  Evil 

intervening  congresses  being  held  in  the  various 
capitals  of  Europe.1  At  these  congresses  import- 
ant papers  were  read,  many  of  which  have  been 
published  separately,2  and  were  followed  by  inter- 
esting discussions.  The  federation  also  publishes 
a  monthly  bulletin  which  has  a  wide  influence.3 

National  committees  were  soon  formed  in  the 
different  countries,  and  are  to  be  found  to-day  in 
England,  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Austria, 
Netherlands,  Sweden,  Spain,  and  Norway.  The 
most  important  of  these  committees  are  those  of 
France,  England  and  Germany.  In  France, 
among  the  most  distinguished  and  active  members 
have  been  M.  Yves  Guyot,  at  one  time  minister 
of  commerce,  Mme.  G.  Avril  de  Sainte-Croix, 
the  most  indefatigable  supporter  of  the  movement, 

"  Toutes  les  fois  que  le  prox6n£tisme  tombe  sous  le  coup  de  la  loi, 
ceux  qui  paient  les  proxenetes  et  profitent  de  leur  Industrie  doivent 
6tre  considered  comme  complices. 

"La  Federation  declare  done  que  1'Etat  ne  doit  ni  imposer  a  une  femme 
quelconque  la  visite  obligatoire  sous  pre"texte  de  mceurs,  ni  soumettre 
la  personne  des  prostituees  a  un  regime  d'exception  quelconque. 

"  Art.  6 — Outre  les  questions  qui  sont  en  rapport  direct  avec  le  but 
special  que  poursuit  la  Federation,  celle-ci  etudie  scientifiquement 
la  prostitution.  Elle  poursuit  une  enqueue  permanente  sur  les  causes 
morales,  economiques  ou  autres  de  cette  plaie  sociale,  sur  ses  efffits,  sur 
les  moyens  d'y  porter  remede." 

1  The  eleventh  congress  was  to  have  taken  place  in  Frankfort  a./M. 
in  1911,  but  has  been  postponed  to  1912. 

2  The  most  important  of  these  will  be  noted  in  the  bibliography  at 
the  end  of  this  volume. 

*  Bulletin  A  bolitionniste,  Organe  Central  de  la  Federation  A  bolition- 
niste  Internationale,  Geneva,  Switzerland.  The  accomplished  Secre- 
tary of  the  International  Federation  is  M.  Henry  Minod, 


The  European  Movement  173 

and  M.  Louis  Fiaux,  the  most  voluminous  living 
writer  on  the  subject. x  The  French  committee  does 
not  publish  a  journal  of  its  own,  as  the  international 
journal  is  published  in  French  and  circulates  in 
France.  There  is,  however,  a  French  League  of  Pub- 
lic Morality,  which  issues  a  periodical  with  a  special 
supplement  devoted  to  the  abolitionist  cause.3 
One  of  the  important  offshoots  of  the  French 
committee  is  the  so-called  L'CEuvre  Liberatrice, 
or  Rescue  Home,  which  was  founded  in  1900 
by  Madame  de  Sainte-Croix  under  distinguished 
auspices,  and  which  has  extended  its  beneficent 
operations  to  many  unfortunate  women.3 

In  England  after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Butler  the 
most  prominent  members  of  the  committee  were 
the  Right  Hon.  James  Stuart,  Hon.  Henry  J. 
Wilson,  M.  P.,  Mr.  W.  A.  Coote,  and  Dr.  H.  M. 
Wilson.  The  English  committee  publishes  its 
own  periodical,  The  Shield*  and  issues  a  large 

1  For  a  complete  list  of  Mr.  Fiaux's  contributions  see  the  bibliography 
to  this  work. 

*  Le  Relevement  Social,  Organe  de  la  Ligue  Fran$aise  de  la  Moralite 
Publique,  edited  by  M.  Louis  Comte. 

*  L'CEume  Liberatrice  publishes    an    annual   pamphlet    giving    an 
account  of  its  work.    The  record  for  the  tenth  year  was  published  in 
1911.     During  the  decade  of  its  existence  755  women  have  been  put 
in  hospitals  or  other  establishments,  and  1255  other  women  have  been 
otherwise  aided.     Quite  a  goodly  number  of  young  girls  who  had  been 
rescued  in  this  way  have  now  become  industrious  working  women, 
good  servants,  and  excellent  mothers. 

4  The  Shield,  the  Official  Organ  of  the  British  Committeee  of  the  Inter- 
national Federation  for  the  Abolition  of  State  Regulation  of  Vice.  This 
is  a  monthly,  the  present  volume  being  volume  xiii.  of  a  new  series. 


174  The  Social  Evil 

number  of  pamphlets.  In  both  the  English  and 
the  French  societies  men  have  been  equally 
interested  with  women. 

In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  the  society  is 
composed  more  largely  of  women,  and  the  male 
members,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  distinguished 
physicians,  consist  chiefly  of  clergymen.  The 
head  of  the  German  committee  is  Frau  Katharina 
Scheven  and  its  journal  is  called  Der  Abolitionist* 
The  German  committee,  however,  has  no  less 
than  eighteen  branches  in  the  most  important 
German  cities,  and  holds  interesting  annual 
conferences.  The  last  meeting  took  place  at 
Dresden  in  June,  1911,  and  devoted  especial 
attention  to  the  evils  of  the  so-called  Animier- 
Kneipen,  or  drinking  places,  which  are  open  all 
night  and  are  served  by  young  women  who  are 
supposed  to  amuse  the  customers,  to  drink  with 
them,  and  incite  them  to  drink  more.  The  Ger- 
man branch  also  publishes  a  large  number  of  tracts 
and  monographs  which  are  now  beginning  to 
produce  some  influence. 

In  the  other  European  countries,  each  of  the 
branches  is  doing  effective  work  and  furnishes 
every  year  fresh  and  distinguished  recruits  to 
the  cause  of  abolitionism.2  The  greater  part  of 

1  Der  Abolitionist.  Organ  des  Deutschen  Zweiges  der  I.  A.  Federation. 
Herausgegeben  und  begrundet  von  Katharina  Scheven.  This  is  pub- 
lished in  Dresden,  and  is  now  in  its  tenth  volume. 

3  A  complete  list  of  all  the  periodicals  in  other  countries  that  are  in 


The  European  Movement  175 

the  reform  movement  described  in  the  following 
sections  is  due  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  un- 
ceasing efforts  and  the  continual  vigilance  of  the 
international  association.  The  real  meaning  of 
the  movement  can  best  be  summarised  in  the 
following  recent  words  of  an  eminent  British 
physician : 

"The  Abolitionist  Federation  has  always  been 
convinced  of  the  futility  of  regulation  as  a  hygienic 
measure,  a  conviction  which  is  now  shared  by 
most  of  those  whose  experience  entitles  them  to 
speak  with  authority.  But  the  Federation  goes 
further,  and  maintains  that  regulation  is  not 
merely  futile,  but  mischievous;  that  its  tendency 
is  to  aggravate  the  evils  which  it  is  designed  to 
prevent.  It  does  not  fulfil  the  first  conditions  of 
sound  prophylaxis;  it  does  nothing  whatever  to 
check  the  causes  of  disease;  on  the  contrary,  it 
tends,  in  greater  or  lesser  degree,  to  foster  those 
habits  of  thought  and  action  which  are  the  source 
of  disease.  It  may  exist  side  by  side  with  efforts 
to  diminish  vice  by  raising  the  moral  tone,  by 
inculcating  self-control,  by  spreading  knowledge  as 
to  the  dangers  of  disease,  or  by  providing  counter 
attractions;  but  it  can  never  assist  those  efforts 
and  tends  rather  to  divert  attention  from  them 
and  to  weaken  them. 

"The   knowledge   that   the   authorities   try  to 

harmony  with  the  work  of  the  International  Federation  is  published 
in  its  monthly  Bulletin. 


176  The  Social  Evil 

provide  safety  in  indulgence  maintains  on  the  part 
of  young  men  a  false  confidence  which  the  more 
diffused  knowledge  of  the  dangers  of  disease  would 
otherwise  counteract;  moreover,  it  bolsters  up  the 
belief  that  sexual  indulgence  is  necessary  for  a 
man's  health.  Nowadays  every  medical  man 
knows  that  this  belief  has  no  foundation,  but  it 
lingers  persistently  among  the  uneducated,  who 
are  apt  to  regard  the  continued  existence  of 
government  'protection'  as  a  proof  of  the  neces- 
sity. In  every  way  regulation  works  to  undermine 
that  resolute  and  purposeful  self-control  which  is 
the  only  reliable  safeguard. 

"In  many  quarters  there  is  a  curious  misappre- 
hension on  the  objects  and  motives  of  abolitionists. 
They  are  supposed  to  object  to  regulation  on  some 
obscure  theological  ground,  or  with  the  fantastic 
idea  that  venereal  disease  being  a  punishment 
for  sin  ought  to  be  encouraged.  Nothing  is  farther 
from  the  truth.  Abolitionists  believe  that  all 
diseases  should  be  treated,  that  all  sufferers 
should  be  cared  for,  and,  if  possible,  cured,  and 
that  reasonable  precautions  should  be  taken  to 
prevent  the  spread  of  disease.  But  regulation  is 
not  a  reasonable  precaution;  firstly,  because  it 
deals  only  with  a  particular  section  of  infected 
persons,  leaving  a  much  larger  number  at  liberty 
to  spread  the  contagion;  and  secondly,  because  it 
fosters  the  immorality  which  is  the  ultimate  cause 
of  disease. 


The  European  Movement  177 

"More  than  thirty  years  ago,  when  the  majority 
of  the  medical  profession  were  solidly  in  favour 
of  regulation,  the  International  Abolitionist  Fed- 
eration was  founded  to  combat  a  system  which 
is  based  on  injustice,  and  which,  wherever  it  ex- 
ists, lowers  respect  for  women,  and  undermines 
the  foundations  of  personal  liberty.  The  Federa- 
tion maintains  that  the  basis  of  hygienic  legislation 
as  of  all  other  legislation  must  be  righteousness, 
and  that  if  founded  on  any  other  basis  failure  is 
inevitable;  the  progress  of  medical  science  has 
justified  this  contention.  This  Federation  is  not, 
and  never  has  been,  primarily  an  organisation 
for  promoting  hygiene.  Its  business  is  to  secure 
the  abolition  of  an  immoral  and  unjust  system. 
But  it  claims  that  by  destroying  reliance  on  a  false 
system  it  has  cleared  the  way  for  the  discovery 
of  better  methods  for  dealing  with  the  curse  of 
prostitution  and  its  attendant  evils."1 

3.    The  Brussels  International  Conferences 

The  system  of  regulation  in  Brussels  was,  as 
stated  above,  long  considered  a  model.  At  the  end 
of  the  seventies,  however,  a  series  of  most  outrage- 
ous scandals  occurred,  showing  an  astounding  con- 
dition of  corruption  among  police  officials,  and 
direct  complicity  between  the  chief  of  police  and 

1  Notes  on  Administrative  Measures  against  Enthelic  Disease.  By  H. 
M.  Wilson,  M.D.  London,  1910. 

12 


178  The  Social  Evil 

the  houses  of  ill-fame.  These  revelations  which 
confounded  all  Europe,  somewhat  abated  the 
zeal  of  the  enthusiasts  for  the  Brussels  system, 
and  doubts  now  began  to  be  heard.  The  subject 
was  energetically  taken  up  by  the  international 
federation,  and  during  the  nineties  a  distinguished 
Belgian  specialist,  Dr.  Dubois-Havenith,  organised 
a  committee  to  arrange  for  an  international 
conference  to  consider  the  whole  problem  of 
regulation.  The  conference  was  held  in  Brussels, 
in  1899,  under  the  presidency  of  the  Belgian 
Minister  of  Health  and  the  Burgomaster  of  Brus- 
sels. It  was  composed  of  360  members,  repre- 
senting 33  nationalities,  107  being  government 
delegates  and  295  being  distinguished  physicians. 
In  order  that  the  discussions  might  not  wax  too 
warm,  however,  some  of  the  extreme  abolition- 
ists, like  M.  Yves  Guyot,  were  not  invited.  The 
Brussels  conference  lasted  five  days  and  considered 
six  questions,  which  were  as  follows: 

1 .  Have  the  systems  of  regulation  now  in  force 
had  any  influence  upon  the  prevalence  of  disease? 

2.  Is  the  present  organisation  of  medical  su- 
pervision susceptible  of  improvement? 

3.  Is  it  desirable,   from  a  medical  point    of 
view,   to  maintain  or  to  suppress  the    licensed 
houses? 

4.  Can  the  administrative  organisation  of  police 
supervision  be  improved? 

5.  By  what  legal  measures  can  the  number  of 


The  European  Movement  179 

women  earning  their  living  by  immorality  be 
diminished? 

6.  What  preventive  measures  bearing  on  the 
population  generally  are  to  be  recommended?1 

The  chief  discussion  centred  around  the  first 
question.  Although  the  regulationists,  or  regle- 
mentationists,  were  naturally  in  the  great  ma- 
jority, the  most  significant  occurrence  in  the  entire 
congress  was  that  the  physicians  were  no  longer, 
as  a  generation  before,  unanimous  in  their  opinion. 
In  fact  some  of  the  most  prominent  continental 
as  well  as  English  physicians  now  utterly  denied 
the  value  of  regulation,  and  even  the  medical 
advocates  of  regulation  conceded  that  entirely 
too  much  had  been  claimed  for  it.  The  very 
first  morning  was  one  of  surprises,  for  three  out 
of  the  first  four  speakers — all  prominent  continen- 
tal physicians — condemned  the  existing  system. 

1  The  official  report  is  published  in  six  large  volumes  of  some  3000 
pages,  under  the  following  title:  Rapports,  Enquetes,  et  Compte  Rendu 
des  Debats  de  la  Conference  Internationale  de  Prophylaxie  des  Maladies 
Veneriennes.  Publics  par  le  Dr.  Dubois-Havenith,  agreg£  a  I'Universite" 
de  Bruxelles,  Secr6taire-g6ne"ral  de  la  Conference.  T.  I.  Premiere 
partie,  Rapports  Preliminaires;  Seconde  partie,  Enqudtes  sur  VEtat  de 
la  Prostitution  et  la  Frequence  de  la  Syphilis  et  des  Maladies  Veneriennes 
dans  les  differents  Pays;  T.  I.,  Appendice,  Communications  relatives 
aux  six  Questions  a  VEude. — T.  II.:  Premiere  partie,  Compte  Rendu 
des  Seances;  Seconde  partie,  Appendice  aux  Enqudtes  et  Communications 
Documentaires.  H.  Lamertin,  edit.,  Bruxelles,  1899-1900. 

An  excellent,  full,  and  critical  account  of  the  Congress  will  be  found 
in  Louis  Fiaux,  L'  Integrite  Intersexuelle  des  Peuples  et  des  Gouverne- 
ments.  Paris,  1910,  811  pp.  A  very  abbreviated  account  in  English 
will  be  found  in  Preventive  Hygiene.  The  International  Conference  at 
Brussels,  Sept.,  1899.  By  one  who  was  there.  London,  1900. 


i8o  The  Social  Evil 

These  were  Dr.  Blaschko  of  Berlin,  Dr.  Augagneur, 
of  Lyons,  and  afterwards  governor-general  of 
Madagascar,  and  Dr.  Barthelemy,  one  of  the  medical 
chiefs  of  St.  Lazare,  the  great  hospital  prison  in 
Paris.  Perhaps  the  most  distinguished  member 
of  the  congress,  Professor  Fournier,  the  head  of 
the  French  delegation,  who  still  declared  himself 
an  advocate  of  the  system,  conceded  that  it  did 
very  little  good.  "You  ask  me,"  he  said,  "am  I 
content  with  the  regulation  as  it  is?  No,  I  am 
not.  Yet  I  approve  it,  yes,  because  it  does  a 
little  good  ('un  peu  de  bien').  It  controls  but  a 
small  number  of  women,  but  at  least  it  controls 
those  few."  In  addition  to  the  physicians  who 
had  now  become  skeptical  of  the  whole  scheme, 
there  was  a  small  band  of  abolitionists  pure  and 
simple,  whose  speeches  were  marked  by  con- 
spicuous ability  and  restraint.  One  of  the  most 
impressive  speeches  was  made  by  a  Dutch  dele- 
gate who,  referring  to  the  plea  of  Professor 
Fournier  that  they  be  allowed  to  do  '  'a  little  good," 
pointed  out  that  in  order  to  do  this  "little  good" 
they  were  compelled  to  do  incalculable  harm. 

On  the  main  question  of  state  regulation, 
opinions  were  so  divided  that  the  conference 
was  unable  to  adopt  any  resolution.  On  the 
other  points,  however,  it  was  possible  to  secure 
unanimous  approval  for  the  following  recommen- 
dations : 

i.    That    the    governments    should   use  their 


The  European  Movement  181 

utmost   efforts   to   suppress    the    prostitution   of 
girls  under  age. 

2.  That  a  permanent  international  society  of 
sanitary  and  moral  prophylaxis  (prevention)  should 
be  constituted,  with  its  headquarters  in  Brussels; 
that  it  issue  a  quarterly  journal  in  French,  English, 
and  German ;  and  that  it  hold  congresses  from  time 
to  time,  the  next  congress  to  meet  at  Brussels,  in 
1902. 

3.  That  complete  and  compulsory  courses  of 
instruction  in   venereology  should  be  instituted 
in  every  university. 

4.  That  all  those  charged  with  the  education 
of  the  young  should  use  every  effort  to  promote 
their    moral    development    and    to    teach    them 
temperance  and  respect  for  women  of  all  classes. 

5.  That  the  utmost  rigour  of  the  law  should  be 
enforced  against  souteneurs  (that  is,  men  who  live 
upon  the  earnings  of  prostitutes,  and  who  in  New 
York  are  ordinarily  called  "cadets.)" 

6.  That   the   government   should   appoint   in 
each   country  a  commission  to   study  the  best 
means  of  preventing  the  dissemination  of  venereal 
diseases. 

7.  That  the  governments  should  find  means 
to  warn  the  public,  and  especially  young  persons, 
of  the  dangers  attending  an  immoral  life. 

8.  That   the   statistics   of   disease   should   be 
drawn  up  in  all  countries  on  a  common  basis. 

As  most  of  the  important  points  brought  out 


1 82  The  Social  Evil 

in  the  first  Brussels  conference  have  been  touched 
upon  in  the  body  of  this  book,  we  may  pass  them 
by  here.  The  general  impression  created  by  the 
discussions  may  be  inferred  from  the  statement  of 
an  American  delegate,  to  one  of  the  German  doctors : 
"  We  are  waiting  to  see  how  you  get  on  in  Europe," 
said  he.  "After  a  hundred  years  of  it  you  do  not 
seem  much  better  off  than  ourselves.  At  present 
we  are  not  much  tempted  to  copy  you."  A  few 
weeks  later  Professor  Fournier  read  a  paper  at 
the  Paris  Academy  of  Medicine,  in  which  he 
pointed  out  "the  inadequacy  of  the  whole  system 
of  our  administrative  measures.  Without  ignoring 
their  advantages  (which  would  be  an  ingratitude 
and  an  error),  we  must  admit  their  insufficiency. 
I  will  add  that  they  are  likely  to  become  even  less 
useful  as  time  goes  on."  And  even  Professor 
Neisser,  the  distinguished  German  advocate  of 
regulation,  said:  "The  question  of  prostitution 
is  essentially  and  primarily  a  man's  question, 
rather  than  a  woman's  question.  I  personally 
do  not  believe  in  the  alleged  physical  necessity 
argument,  nor  in  the  harmfulness  of  abstention." 

Shortly  after  the  disbanding  of  the  Brussels 
conference  the  International  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis  was  founded.  Its  quarterly 
Bulletins,  which  have  continued  to  this  date, 
abound  in  the  most  interesting  and  valuable 
discussions.  National  societies  with  the  same 
name  were  now  also  instituted.  France,  under 


The  European  Movement  183 

the  leadership  of  Professor  Fournier,  was  the  first 
to  have  its  own  society,  founded  in  1900.'  The 
United  States,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,2  followed 
before  long  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Prince  A. 
Morrow,  who  was  one  of  the  sixteen  American 
members  of  the  first  Brussels  conference. 

In  September,  1902,  the  second  conference, 
provided  for  in  the  second  resolution  above,  was 
held,  again  in  Brussels  and  under  the  same  aus- 
pices as  before.3  Perhaps  the  most  significant  differ- 
ence was  the  presence  of  a  larger  number  of  invited 
abolitionists,  and  especially  M.  Yves  Guyot,  who  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  discussion.  The  abolitionist 
movement  was  now  headed  by  four  leading  Paris 
doctors;  Dr.  D.  Gailleton,  the  head  of  the  French 
government  delegation,  Dr.  Gaucher,  the  successor 
of  Professor  Fournier,  Dr.  Queyrat,  the  head  of 
one  of  the  leading  hospitals,  and  Dr.  Landouzy, 
who  represented  the  French  ministry  of  public 
instruction.  These  physicians  condemned  the 
existing  system  as  absolutely  valueless  ("II  ne 

1  As  to  the  admirable  work  accomplished  by  the  French  society  see 
the  article  by  Dr.  Keyes  in  Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of 
Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  vol.  i.  (1906),  pp.  80  et  seq. 

2  Page  222  infra. 

3  The  proceedings  of  this  conference  were  published  in  two  large 
volumes  under  the  title  of  Seconde  Conference  Internationale  pour  la 
Prophylaxie  de  la  Syphilis  et  des  Maladies  Veneriennes,  sous  le  patronage 
du  Gouvernement  Beige  (Septembre,  1902).     Publie  par  le  Dr.  Dubois 
Havenith,  Secretaire-general.    2  thick  volumes,  not  paged  consecutively. 
Tome  premier,  Rapports  Preliminaires;  Tome  second,  Compte  Rendu 
des  Seances.     Henri  Lamertin,  editeur,  Bruxelles,  1902-1903. 


1 84  The  Social  Evil 

sert  absolument  a  rien")  and  moved  a  resolution 
that  it  ought  to  be  abandoned.  Of  course,  it  was 
impossible  to  hope  for  unanimity  on  such  a 
resolution  and  it  was  therefore  withdrawn.  Much 
new  material  was  now  presented  and  some  admir- 
able reports  were  made,  especially  on  the  problems 
of  individual  prophylaxis. 

Professor  Neisser,  the  distinguished  German 
specialist,  presented  a  scheme  for  what  soon  came 
to  be  called  Neo-regulation,  a  regulation  through 
a  standing  sanitary  commission  with  plenary 
powers  to  place  all  patients,  male  and  female,  un- 
der medical  supervision,  and  to  compel  obedience 
to  all  the  restrictions  imposed.  But  the  conference 
refused  to  consider  it  seriously.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  current  against  any  form  of 
regulation  which  involved  compulsory  examination 
was  flowing  more  and  more  strongly. 

The  debates  were  largely  an  echo  of  those  in 
the  preceding  conference  and  at  the  close  several 
resolutions  were  unanimously  passed.  The  most 
important  of  these  were  the  following: 

1.  That    all    persons  suffering   from   venereal 
maladies  should  have  easy  access  to  gratuitous 
treatment,  with  no  unnecessary  publicity. 

2.  That    prostitutes    suffering    from    venereal 
maladies  ought  to  be  considered  not  as  criminals 
but  as  patients. 

3.  That   all   military   recruits   should   receive 
printed  instructions  of  the  danger  of  disease,  and 


The  European  Movement  185 

should  take  these  with  them  when  they  leave 
the  service. 

4.  That  the  most  important  and  most  effectual 
means  for  combating  the  diffusion  of  venereal 
maladies  consists  in  widespread  information  as 
to  the  importance  of  these  maladies  and  the  very 
grave  dangers  attending  them.  It  is  especially 
necessary  to  teach  young  men  not  only  that 
chastity  and  continence  are  not  injurious,  but  that 
these  practices  are  wholly  recommended  from  the 
medical  point  of  view. 

This  last  resolution — the  unanimous  pronounce- 
ment of  all  the  physicians  present — that  chastity 
is  not  injurious  to  young  men,  but  on  the  contrary 
beneficial — is  one  of  extraordinary  significance. 

Before  the  conference  met,  it  had  been  intended 
to  hold  a  third  congress  within  a  few  years.  Now, 
however,  it  was  decided  that  during  the  next 
decade  or  two  probably  the  best  work  could  be 
done  by  the  separate  national  committees  formed 
or  to  be  formed  and  each  working  in  its  own 
country. 

If  we  were  to  sum  up  the  results  of  the  two 
Brussels  conferences,  the  conclusion  would  be 
that  they  were  more  important  from  the  negative 
than  from  the  positive  point  of  view.  It  had 
originally  been  hoped  especially  by  the  "regle- 
mentationists "  that  some  form  of  international 
regulation  might  be  proposed.  It  was  soon 
recognised,  however,  that  any  attempt  to  spread 


i86  The  Social  Evil 

the  existing  system  of  regulation  was  hopeless. 
From  this  point  of  view  the  conclusions  of  the 
conferences  were  essentially  negative.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  emphasis  was  laid,  in  all  the  dis- 
cussions and  in  many  of  the  resolutions,  upon 
constructive  methods  of  dealing  with  the  problem, 
not  indeed  through  "  reglementation, "  but  in 
other  ways  that  would  be  in  consonance  with 
modern  social  and  moral  demands.  Taking  it 
all  in  all,  therefore,  the  Brussels  conferences 
showed  the  beginning  of  a  decided  change  of  heart 
on  the  part  of  the  continental  thinkers,  and  in 
this  way  marked  a  decided  step  in  advance  in  the 
solution  of  the  problem. 

4.     The  French  Extra-Parliamentary  Commission 

The  Brussels  conferences,  as  we  have  seen, 
brought  about  a  distinct  change  not  only  in  public 
opinion,  but  also  in  medical  opinion  in  France,  as 
to  the  excellence  of  their  long-continued  policy  of 
regulation.  Now,  in  the  early  years  of  the  new 
century,  confidence  in  the  system  was  still  more 
rudely  shattered  by  some  outrageous  mistakes 
on  the  part  of  the  Morals  Police,  both  in  Paris 
and  in  Rennes.  As  a  result  of  the  interpellations 
in  Parliament  on  these  outrages,  an  Extra- 
Parliamentary  Commission  was  appointed  on 
July  1 8,  1903,  to  consider  the  whole  subject. 
It  was  composed  of  about  seventy-five  members, 


The  European  Movement  187 

deemed  to  represent  the  various  classes  of  experts. 
About  one  third  of  the  members  were  legislators, 
that  is  senators  and  deputies;  another  third  was 
composed  of  important  administrative  officials 
connected  with  the  government  departments, 
as  well  as  some  important  prefects  and  mayors; 
and  the  remaining  third  comprised  about  a  dozen 
of  the  foremost  physicians  and  about  the  same 
number  of  publicists  and  professors  of  social 
economy,  including  M.  Yves  Guyot,  Professor 
Gide,  and  Mme.  Avril  de  Sainte-Croix.  The 
sessions  lasted  almost  three  years  and  were  full 
of  the  most  interesting  discussions.1 

In  order  to  insure  absolute  impartiality,  prelim- 
inary reports  were  invited  from  the  leaders  of  the 
two  parties — those  who  still  believed  in  the  policy 
of  regulation  and  those  who  were  opposed  to  it. 
The  argument  in  favour  of  regulation  was  presented 
by  Professor  Fournier,  the  opposed  argument  by 
M.  Augagneur,  who  later  became  a  member  of  the 

1  The  most  convenient  account  of  the  labours  of  the  commission 
will  be  found  in  the  report  by  the  secretary:  Rapport  General  sur  les 
Travaux  de  la  Commission  Extraparlementaire  du  Regime  des  Mceurs, 
Presente  par  M.  F.  Hennequin,  Sous-Directeur  au  Ministere  de  1'In- 
terieur,  Secretaire-general  de  la  Commission.  Melun,  Imprimerie  Ad- 
ministrative, 1908,  4to,  285  pp. 

There  was  also  a  thick  volume  of  Annexes  au  Rapport  General  giving 
all  the  important  reports  presented  to  the  commission.  A  critical  and 
full  study  of  these  reports  was  made  by  M.  Louis  Fiaux,  one  of  the 
members,  in  a  three-volume  work  entitled  La  Police  des  Mceurs 
devant  la  Commission  Extraparlementaire  du  Regime  des  McBurs.  Vols. 
i.  and  ii.,  each  of  1000  pages,  were  published  in  1907;  volume  iii.,  a 
book  of  744  pages,  was  published  in  1910. 


1 88  The  Social  Evil 

French  cabinet  of  1911.  Each  report,  was  fol- 
lowed by  long  discussions. 

Although  the  abolitionists  were  originally  in 
the  minority,  the  force  of  the  arguments  and  the 
facts  presented  by  them  was  such  that  at  the 
end  of  its  deliberations  the  commission  voted  by 
a  considerable  majority  that  the  entire  system  of 
regulation,  as  practised  in  France,  was  so  defective, 
and  on  the  whole  so  immoral,  that  it  ought  to  be 
entirely  abandoned.  Thus,  after  an  experience 
of  more  than  a  century,  the  French  experts  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  whole  regime  des 
mceurs  had  outlived  its  usefulness.  The  im- 
portance of  this  pronouncement  cannot  well  be 
overestimated. 

The  commission,  however,  was  not  satisfied 
merely  with  negation.  It  considered  somewhat  at 
length  the  so-called  neo-regulation  scheme  and 
the  Scandinavian  scheme.  The  neo-regulation- 
ist  proposals  were,  in  short,  as  follows:  abo- 
lition of  compulsory  registration  except  after  a 
proper  trial  and  judicial  decision ;  the  appointment 
of  women  as  police  and  as  doctors;  the  prohibition 
of  the  sale  of  intoxicants  in  disorderly  houses; 
the  exclusion  of  minors  from  these  houses;  and 
the  prohibition  of  licensed  houses.  The  neo- 
regulation  scheme,  however,  was  considered  to  be 
an  unsatisfactory  modification  of  the  present 
system,  and  was  not  approved.1 

1  A  fuller  discussion  of  neo-reglementation  will  be  found  in  a  mono- 


The  European  Movement  189 

The  Scandinavian  scheme  had  for  its  chief 
feature  the  placing  of  venereal  diseases  among  the 
infectious  diseases  for  which  compulsory  notifica- 
tion is  required,  and  which  the  law  insists  upon 
placing  under  proper  medical  treatment,  with  the 
imposition  of  penalties  for  neglect. 

The  system  which  the  commission  finally  re- 
commended was  what  it  called  "indirect"  regula- 
tion. It  provided  for  a  careful  organisation  for  the 
treatment  of  disease,  with  the  exclusion  of  all 
one-sided  provisions  affecting  only  women.  It 
included  provisions  for  protecting  minors  from 
corruption,  and  comprised  also  a  general  scheme 
of  education  in  sexual  matters.  It  prohibited  all 
tolerated  or  licensed  houses  and  recommended 
punishment  for  all  incitement  to  immorality,  or 
what  it  called  "public  provocations  to  debauchery" 
and  for  all  infractions  of  public  order.  Finally,  it 
recommended  some  important  provisions  for  the 
prophylaxis  of  venereal  diseases.  As  the  secre- 
tary put  it  in  his  report,  summing  up  the  general 
conclusions:  "In  suppressing  a  century- old  system 

graph  written  by  Mr.  B.  Leppington,  of  London.  The  official  French 
edition  is  Le  Neo-Reglementarisme.  Ses  Principes,  son  Application, 
ses  Perspectives.  Published  at  Geneva,  1904,  by  the  International 
Abolitionist  Federation. 

A  most  remarkable  suggestion  was  made  by  Dr.  Sperk  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, who  proposed  that  there  be  two  classes  of  houses,  one  where 
certified  healthy  women  might  be  found,  and  to  which  none  but  healthy 
men  should  resort;  another  to  be  occupied  by  infected  women,  to 
which  infected  men  might  go.  This  monstrous  proposition,  of  course, 
received  no  consideration  whatsoever. 


190  The  Social  Evil 

which  is  not  unanimously  condemned,  and  in 
objecting  to  any  form  of  reglementation  as  such, 
the  commission  has  not  sacrificed  important 
interests  to  any  ideal  of  justice,  nor  has  it  ac- 
complished an  utterly  destructive  work.  On 
the  ruins  of  the  old  system,  in  fact,  it  has  built 
a  new,  in  recommending,  with  the  greatest  care, 
all  those  measures,  which  are  deemed  necessary  and 
adequate  for  the  defence  of  public  order  and  for 
the  maintenance  of  public  health."1 

The  first  fruit  of  the  work  of  the  extra- 
parliamentary  commission  was  the  law  of  1908, 
designed  to  afford  more  adequate  protection  to 
young  girls  under  eighteen.  The  main  recommen- 
dation of  the  report — namely,  the  complete  aboli- 
tion of  the  whole  system  of  regime  des  mceurs 
— was  not  so  easy  to  accomplish.  The  matter  has 
been  taken  up  several  times  in  Parliament,  but 
public  opinion  is  not  yet  sufficiently  educated  to 
force  the  contest  to  a  victorious  issue.  So  strong 
is  the  opposition  to  any  sudden  break  with  methods 
that  have  lasted  for  over  a  century,  and  so  obstin- 
ate are  the  administrative  forces  arrayed  against 
any  such  complete  overthrow,  that  it  will  probably 
take  a  somewhat  longer  period  of  agitation  and 
education  before  France  abandons  her  present 
methods.  But  the  battle  has  been  at  least  half 
won  when  a  majority  not  only  of  the  leading 

1  Rapport  Gtntral,  p.  269. 


The  European  Movement  191 

French  physicians  but  also  of  the  most  important 
administrative  officials  have  recognised  that  their 
present  system  does  more  harm  than  good.  It 
is  only  a  question  of  time  before  the  opinion  of 
the  expert  minority  will  become  the  public 
opinion  of  the  great  majority.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  in  England  it  took  an  agitation  of 
almost  twenty  years  to  overcome  a  system  which 
had  been  in  operation  only  a  few  years  before  the 
opposition  began.  In  France  we  have  to  deal 
with  a  method  which  has  been  in  force  for  over 
a  century,  and  which  has  spread  to  the  entire 
European  continent,  and  to  other  continents  as 
well.  But  the  remarkable  and  unexpected  con- 
clusions of  the  extra-parliamentary  commission 
have  given  fresh  hope  to  the  defenders  of  liberty 
and  to  the  advocates  of  moral  and  social  progress. 
Two  members  of  the  French  government  in  1911, 
M.  Cruppi,  minister  of  justice,  and  M.  Augagneur, 
minister  of  public  works,  were  abolitionists;  a 
parliamentary  group  of  not  less  than  eighty 
abolitionists  was  formed  in  1911;  and  we  are  told 
that  "all  the  great  chiefs  of  the  medical  faculties 
and  all  the  important  heads  of  hospitals  have 
now  become  converted  to  abolitionism."1  It  is, 
thus,  perhaps  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
beginning  of  the  end  can  already  be  discerned. 

If,  therefore,  we  sum  up  the  movement  of  the 

1  See  the  report  at  the  Colmar  Congress,  1911. 


192  The  Social  Evil 

last  few  decades  in  Europe,  we  find  that  consider- 
able progress  has  been  made.  In  Sweden  the 
change  of  opinion  has  been  scarcely  less  marked 
than  in  France.  In  1903,  after  the  second  Brussels 
conference,  Mr.  Otto  Westerberg  and  Mr.  Hugo 
Tamm,  who  had  been  converted  to  abolitionism, 
persuaded  the  Swedish  parliament  to  ask  the  King 
to  appoint  a  royal  commission  to  study  the  subject. 
The  commission  was  formed  with  nine  members, 
seven  of  whom  were  regulationists.  During  the 
course  of  the  discussion,  however,  all  seven  were 
converted  to  the  other  side.  After  several  years' 
work  the  commission  made  its  report  in  1911. 
The  members  unanimously  agreed  in  recommending 
an  abandonment  of  the  existing  system  of  regu- 
lation, while  their  constructive  recommendations 
included  the  compulsory  notification  of  venereal 
disease,  and  the  subjection  of  confirmed  prosti- 
tutes to  the  provisions  of  the  law  governing 
vagrants.1 

In  Norway  and  Denmark  the  police  des  mceurs 
has  been  abolished,  and  while  some  of  its  powers 
have  been  transferred  to  the  ordinary  police,  the 
provision  with  reference  to  compulsory  treatment 
has  become  a  dead  letter.2 

1  The  report  is  published  in  four  large  volumes,  edited  by  the  secre- 
tary, Dr.  Carl  Malmroth.  A  short  account  will  be  found  in  the  Bulle- 
tin Abolitionniste  for  February,  1911. 

*  Professor  Erik  Pontoppidan,  What  Venereal  Diseases  mean,  and 
how  to  prevent  them  (1909).  For  the  changes  instituted  in  Denmark 
and  in  Norway,  see  The  Shield  for  June,  July,  and  August,  1911. 


The  European  Movement  193 

In  Italy  a  complete  system  of  gratuitous  treat- 
ment in  dispensaries  for  all  venereal  patients, 
that  was  developed  in  the  eighties  and  the  nineties, 
paved  the  way  for  the  abolition  of  the  entire  sys- 
tem of  police  control  over  women.  In  1904,  this 
system  was  rescinded  by  administrative  ordinance 
on  the  ground  that  "every  sort  of  direct  compul- 
sion for  the  ascertainment  and  cure  of  venereal 
diseases  is  injurious  to  public  prophylaxis,  as  it 
increases  the  number  of  persons  impelled  to 
conceal  their  malady  and  to  avoid  the  means  of 
cure."  But  some  features  of  the  old  system  are 
preserved  in  the  Regolamento  sul  Meretricio  in 
that  the  government  still  recognises  tolerated 
houses.  The  inmates,  however,  are  entirely  free 
to  leave  at  any  time.1 

In  Germany,  with  its  fondness  for  administra- 
tive regulation  of  every  kind,  the  abolitionist 
movement  has  made  perhaps  less  headway  than 
anywhere  else,  although  not  a  few  prominent 
physicians  and  officials  have  now  been  brought 
around  to  the  other  side ; 2  and  more  recently  several 
of  the  national  organisations,  like  the  evangelical 

1  See  Federation  Abolitionniste.  Dixieme  Congres  tenu  d  Geneve  les 
7-11  Septembre,  1908.  Compte  Rendu  des  Travaux.  Geneva,  1909, 
p.  283. 

3  A  good  indication  of  the  prevalent  view  in  Germany  may  be  found 
in  the  two  articles  by  Kurt  Woltzendorff,  entitled  "Polizei  und  Pro- 
stitution; eine  Studie,"  in  the  Zeitschr-ift  fur  die  Gesammte  Staatswissen- 
schaft,  vol.  Ixvii,  1911,  Erstes  und  Zweites  Heft.  It  is  significant,  however, 
that  Dr.  Woltzendorff  desires  to  have  the  regulations  apply  to  men  as 
well  as  to  women. 

13 


194  The  Social  Evil 

association  and  the  white  slave  committee,  to 
be  mentioned  in  the  next  chapter,  have  been 
converted  to  the  abolitionist  point  of  view.  The 
controversy  between  the  "regulators"  and  the 
"abolitionists"  has  become  a  bitter  one,  with 
much  exaggeration  on  both  sides.1 

In  Germany,  however,  excellent  constructive 
work  has  been  accomplished  by  the  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Venereal  Diseases,  which  was 
founded  in  1902.  Far  better  facilities  have  been 
provided  for  venereal  patients,  chairs  for  the 
teaching  of  venereology  have  been  established 
in  the  universities,  courses  in  sex  pedagogy  have 
been  instituted  in  the  high  schools,  and  millions 
of  leaflets  have  been  issued  to  enlighten  the  public 
on  the  dangers.  The  result  has  been  a  complete 
change  of  front  in  the  attitude  of  the  periodicals 
and  the  daily  press  to  the  subject. 

In  far-away  Australia,  also,  a  commission  has 
recently  been  instituted  in  the  state  of  Victoria 
to  investigate  the  subject ;  and  as  a  result  syphilis 
was  made  a  notifiable  disease  in  May,  1911. 
The  government  now  proposes  to  bring  in  a  bill 
providing  for  accessible  treatment  for  those 
afflicted  with  venereal  diseases,  and  to  inaugu- 

1  An  excellent  summary  of  the  opposing  arguments  will  be  found  in 
Freiheit  oder  gesundheitliche  Ueberwachung  der  Gewerbsunzucht.  Eine 
zeitgemdsse  Betrachtung.  Von  Dr.  med.  Gaston  Verberg.  Munich,  1907. 
Cf.  the  article  by  Dr.  Henry  B.  DeForest,  in  Transactions  of  the 
American  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  vol.  ii.,  1908, 
pp.  141  et  seq. 


The  European  Movement  195 

rate    a   campaign  of    public    education    on    the 
whole  question. 

Even  in  Japan,  where  the  celebrated  segregated 
quarter,  the  Yoshiwara,  was  destroyed  by  fire 
a  year  ago,  a  movement  has  been  inaugurated, 
with  the  co-operation  of  no  less  important  a 
personage  than  ex-Premier  Count  Okuma,  to 
abolish  the  system  of  government  regulation. 
A  new  society,  called  the  Kakusei  Kai,  is  now 
vigorously  at  work  and  is  publishing  its  own 
journal.  Thus,  slowly  but  surely,  breaches  are 
being  made  in  the  solid  ranks  of  those  who,  until 
a  generation  ago,  had  no  doubt  as  to  the  effec- 
tiveness and  beneficence  of  regulation. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  WHITE-SLAVE  TRAFFIC  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA 

So  far  as  we  can  learn,  the  term  ^ "  White 
Slaves,"  in  its  present  connotation,  is  due  to 
Victor  Hugo.  In  the  English  labour  struggle  of 
the  thirties,  when  the  anti-slavery  movement  in 
the  colonies  was  coming  to  a  head,  some  of  the 
labour  leaders  used  the  term  "White  Slavery" 
to  designate  the  condition  of  the  factory  operatives 
in  Great  Britain.  The  term  spread  to  the  United 
States,  where  a  work  on  the  subject  was  published 
in  1853.*  After  the  enactment  of  the  ten-hour  fac- 
tory law,  however,  this  term  fell  into  disuse.  But  in 
1870,  in  a  letter  written  to  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler, 
to  cheer  her  in  the  struggle  against  the  Contagious 
Diseases  Acts,  Victor  Hugo  wrote:  "The  slavery 
of  black  women  is  abolished  in  America;  but  the 
slavery  of  white  women  continues  in  Europe."  2 
It  was  not  long  before  the  phrase  became  common 
in  this  newer  connotation. 

1  The   White  Slaves   of  England,  compiled  from    Official  Documents. 
By  John  C.  Cobden.     Auburn,  Buffalo,  and  Cincinnati,  1853.     498  pp. 

2  Josephine    E.  Butler,  Personal  Reminiscences  of  a  Great  Crusade, 
1896,  p.  7. 

196 


In  Europe  and  America  197 

i.    The  White- Slave  Traffic  in  Europe 

The  existence  of  an  organised  traffic  to  supply 
houses  of  ill-fame  was  for  a  long  time  neither  sus- 
pected nor  acknowledged.  The  earliest  inkling  of 
such  a  nefarious  traffic  came  to  the  ears  of  the  public 
at  the  time  of  the  first  congress  of  the  international 
abolitionist  federation  at  Geneva,  in  1877.  It 
was  there  pointed  out  that  under  the  pretext 
of  providing  governesses  or  maids  for  private 
families  in  Austria  and  Hungary,  sometimes  whole 
carloads  of  young  women  were  being  sent  by 
different  agencies  to  recruit  the  houses  of  ill- 
fame.  So  great,  in  fact,  did  the  scandal  become 
that  in  1875  certain  Swiss  cantons  formed  an 
agreement  designed  to  check  .the  traffic,  but 
without  much  result.  A  few  years  later  similar 
scandals  arose  in  Brussels,  and  the  complicity  of 
the  chief  of  police  in  the  matter  was  proven.1 
The  matter  was  taken  up  at  the  second  congress 
of  the  international  federation  at  Geneva,  in  1880, 
at  which  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler  delivered  a  remark- 
able address.  After  some  discussion  the  following 
resolution  was  adopted: 

"The  Second  Congress  after  having  acquired 
proof  of  the  fact  that  there  exists  a  wide  and 
permanent  traffic  designed  to  keep  alive  legalised 
prostitution  in  Belgium  and  elsewhere; 

"  Convinced  by  the  facts  brought  to  its  attention 

1  See  above,  pages  177-178. 


198  The  Social  Evil 

that  the  police  des  mceurs  contributed  in  certain 
cases  in  no  small  measure  to  this  traffic; 

"Approves  of  everything  that  has  thus  far  been 
done  by  the  Federation  in  its  endeavour  to  repress 
this  international  traffic,  and  instructs  the  execu- 
tive committee  to  proceed  energetically  along  the 
same  line." 

In  the  ensuing  conventions  held  at  London  in 
1 88 1  and  at  Neuchatel  in  1882  this  matter  again 
formed  the  centre  of  discussion,  and  memoirs  on 
the  subject  were  published  by  several  writers. 
At  the  third  international  congress  held  at  The 
Hague,  in  1883,  attention  was  called  to  the  cor- 
respondence between  the  Dutch  lower  house 
and  the  former  minister  of  justice,  M.  Modderman, 
who  had  proposed  an  international  conference 
on  the  subject.  In  the  following  year,  however, 
a  far  wider  public  was  reached.  In  England, 
after  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts  had  been 
repealed,  a  movement  was  initiated  to  add  an 
amendment  to  the  criminal  law  designed  to  af- 
ford more  adequate  protection  to  young  girls; 
and  when  the  disclosures  were  made  by  Messrs. 
Dyer  and  Gillett  as  to  the  Belgian  abuses1  and 
the  traffic  in  young  women  between  Belgium  and 
England,  a  commission  was  appointed.  Although 
the  commission  reported  in  favour  of  some  amend- 
ment of  the  criminal  law,  nothing  was  done  by 
Parliament. 

'See  above,  p.  177. 


In  Europe  and  America  199 

It  was  now  that  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler  and  Mrs. 
Booth,  of  the  Salvation  Army,  approached  Mr. 
W.  P.  Stead,  the  editor  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette, 
and  begged  him  to  publish  a  complete  exposure  of 
the  facts  as  they  existed  in  London.  Mr.  Stead 
investigated  the  subject  and,  in  1885,  stirred  all 
England  by  the  graphic  account  that  he  published 
in  his  paper.  The  public  outcry  was  so  loud 
and  vehement  that  it  led  to  the  passage  of  a 
Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act,  and  to  the 
indictment  and  conviction  of  the  famous  Jeffries. 
At  the  congress  of  London,  in  1886,  the  subject  of 
an  international  agreement  was  further  considered. 
The  first  successful  attempt  in  this  direction  was 
realised  on  December  18,  1886,  when  Belgium  and 
Holland  contracted  a  treaty,  each  delegating 
the  other  to  aid  in  suppressing  the  traffic.  At 
the  succeeding  conferences  at  Lausanne,  in  1887, 
and  at  Copenhagen,  in  1888,  the  matter  was 
again  brought  forward.  It  was  now  that  Mr. 
William  Alexander  Coote  reported  to  the  confer- 
ence the  creation  of  the  British  National  Vigilance 
Association,  of  which  he  was  secretary,  and  which 
was  formed  especially  to  combat  the  white-slave 
traffic.  Mr.  Coote  recommended  the  institution 
of  similar  societies  elsewhere.1  At  the  end  of 
1888,  the  Netherlands  and  Austro-Hungary  entered 

1  The  British  association  soon  began  the  publication  of  a  monthly 
periodical,  The  Vigilance  Record,  which  is  still  edited  by  Mr.  Coote. 
The  head  office  is  at  St.  Mary's  Chambers,  i6ia  Strand,  London. 


200  The  Social  Evil 

into  a  treaty  similar  to  the  existing  treaty  between 
Belgium  and  the  Netherlands.  Passing  over  the 
intervening  years,  the  matter  was  taken  up  anew 
in  1895,  by  the  international  prison  congress, 
at  Paris,  which  went  on  record  as  demanding  an 
international  commission  to  study  the  whole 
subject.  Partly  as  a  result  of  this  recommendation 
but  chiefly  owing  to  the  indefatigable  efforts  of 
Mr.  Coote,  the  secretary  of  the  British  National 
Vigilance  Society,  arrangements  were  made  for 
the  holding  of  an  international  congress.1 

The  first  international  congress  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  white-slave  traffic  was  held  in 
London,  in  June,  1899,  with  120  delegates 
from  various  nations.  Important  speeches  were 
made  by  Sir  Percy  Bunting,  the  editor  of  the 
Contemporary  Review,  and  by  many  other  distin- 
guished persons.  Resolutions  were  adopted  for 
a  permanent  organisation,  to  be  known  as  the 
International  Congress  and  to  be  composed  of 
the  national  committees,  of  which  there  should 
be  one  in  each  country.  The  representatives  from 
each  national  committee  were  to  form  the  inter- 
national committee,  and  the  management  was  to 

1  In  a  work  entitled  A  Vision  and  its  Fulfilment,  being  the  History  of 
the  Origin  of  the  Work  of  the  National  Vigilance  Association  for  the 
Suppression  of  the  White-Slave  Traffic.  With  a  record  of  visits  paid  to 
the  capitals  of  Europe,  America,  Egypt,  and  South  Africa  for  the  purpose 
of  organising  national  committees  for  the  suppression  of  the  traffic  (Lon- 
don, 1911),  Mr.  Coote  gives  a  graphic  account  of  his  remarkable 
success. 


In  Europe  and  America  201 

be  entrusted  to  an  international  bureau  of  five 
(later  seven)  members. 

The  international  committee  now  set  to  work 
vigorously  and  in  the  next  few  years  a  number 
of  conferences  and  congresses  were  held — the 
second  international  congress  at  Frankfort  a./M. 
in  1902,  the  second  preliminary  conference  at 
Zurich,  in  1904,  and  the  third  international 
congress  at  Paris,  in  1906.  The  preliminary 
conferences  always  prepared  the  way  for  the 
subsequent  more  formal  congresses  where  reports 
were  made  and  resolutions  adopted.  In  the 
meantime  the  governments  of  the  various  countries 
themselves  had  been  awakened  by  their  national 
committees  to  the  necessity  of  action,  and  in  1902 
an  international  congress  was  called  to  meet  in 
Paris  that  year.  At  the  Paris  congress  fifteen  Eu- 
ropean states  were  represented  by  official  govern- 
ment delegates.  It  did  not  take  long  for  the  main 
lines  of  an  international  treaty  to  be  framed,  but  it 
was  thought  best  to  defer  the  signing  of  the  treaty 
until  after  each  of  the  signatory  powers  could  have 
an  opportunity  to  study  the  problem  in  detail. 
The  matter  was  therefore  adjourned  for  two  years. 
When  the  official  congress  reconvened  in  1904, 
an  international  treaty  for  the  suppression  and 
prevention  of  the  white-slave  traffic,  binding  the 
signatory  powers  to  unite  in  the  various  measures 
that  were  taken,  was  signed  on  May  18,  1904, 
by  the  representatives  of  thirteen  states.  These 


202  The  Social  Evil 

were  France,  Germany,  Great  Britain,  Italy, 
Russia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  Belgium,  Holland, 
Spain,  Portugal,  Norway,  and  Switzerland;  a  lit- 
tle later  Austro-Hungary  and  Brazil  signified  their 
adhesion  to  the  treaty.1 

1  The  terms  of  the  International  White  Slave  Treaty  are  as  follows: 

Article  I.  Each  of  the  contracting  governments  agrees  to  establish 
or  designate  an  authority  who  will  be  directed  to  centralise  all  informa- 
tion concerning  the  procuration  of  women  or  girls  with  a  view  to  their 
debauchery  in  a  foreign  country;  that  authority  shall  have  the  right  to 
correspond  directly  with  the  similar  service  established  in  each  of  the 
other  contracting  states. 

Article  2.  Each  of  the  governments  agrees  to  exercise  a  supervision, 
for  the  purpose  of  finding  out,  particularly  in  the  stations,  harbours  of 
embarkation,  and  on  the  journey,  the  conductors  of  women  or  girls 
intended  for  debauchery.  Instruction  shall  be  sent  for  that  purpose 
to  the  officials  or  to  any  other  qualified  persons,  in  order  to  procure, 
within  the  limits  of  the  laws,  all  information  of  a  nature  to  discover  a 
criminal  traffic. 

The  arrival  of  persons  appearing  evidently  to  be  the  authors,  the 
accomplices,  or  the  victims  of  such  a  traffic  will  be  notified,  in  each  case, 
either  to  the  authorities  of  the  place  of  destination  or  to  the  interested 
diplomatic  or  consular  agents,  or  to  any  other  competent  authorities. 
^Article  3.  The  governments  agree  to  receive,  in  each  case,  within 
the  limits  of  the  laws,  the  declarations  of  women  and  girls  of  foreign 
nationality  who  surrender  themselves  to  prostitution,  with  a  view  to 
establish  their  identity  and  their  civil  status  and  to  ascertain  who  has 
induced  them  to  leave  their  country.  The  information  received  will 
be  communicated  to  the  authorities  of  the  country  of  origin  of  the  said 
women  or  girls,  with  a  view  to  their  eventual  return. 

The  governments  agree,  within  the  limits  of  the  laws  and  as  far  as 
possible,  to  confide  temporarily  and  with  a  view  to  their  eventual 
return,  the  victims  of  criminal  traffic  when  they  are  without  any 
resources,  to  some  institutions  of  public  or  private  charity  or  to  private 
individuals  furnishing  the  necessary  guaranties. 

The  governments  agree  also,  within  the  limits  of  the  laws,  to  return 
to  their  country  of  origin,  those  women  or  girls  who  ask  their  re- 
turn or  who  may  be  claimed  by  persons  having  authority  over  them. 
Return  will  be  made  only  after  reaching  an  understanding  as  to  their 


In  Europe  and  America  203 

In  each  of  the  signatory  states  national  com- 
mittees have  been  formed  in  order  to  second 
the  efforts  of  the  respective  governments.1  In 

identity  and  nationality,  as  well  as  to  the  place  and  date  of  their  arrival 
at  the  frontiers.  Each  of  the  contracting  parties  will  facilitate  the 
transit  on  its  territory. 

The  correspondence  relative  to  the  return  will  be  made,  as  far  as 
possible,  through  the  direct  channel. 

Article  4.  In  case  the  woman  or  girl  to  be  sent  back  cannot  her- 
self pay  the  expenses  of  her  transportation  and  has  neither  husband, 
nor  relations,  nor  guardians  to  pay  for  her  the  expenses  occasioned  by 
her  return,  they  shall  be  borne  by  the  country  on  the  territory  of  which 
she  resides,  as  far  as  the  nearest  frontier  or  port  of  embarkation  in 
the  direction  of  the  country  of  origin,  and  by  the  country  of  origin 
for  the  remainder. 

Article  5.  The  provisions  of  the  above  articles  3  and  4  shall  not 
infringe  upon  the  provisions  of  special  conventions  which  may  exist 
between  the  contracting  governments. 

Article  6.  The  contracting  governments  agree,  within  the  limits  of 
the  laws,  to  exercise  as  far  as  possible  a  supervision  over  the  bureaus 
or  agencies  which  occupy  themselves  with  finding  places  for  women  or 
girls  in  foreign  countries. 

Article  7.  The  non-signatory  states  are  admitted  to  adhere  to 
the  present  arrangement.  For  this  purpose,  they  shall  notify  their 
intention,  through  the  diplomatic  channel,  to  the  French  government, 
which  shall  inform  all  the  contracting  states. 

Article  8.  The  present  arrangement  shall  take  effect  six  months 
after  the  date  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications.  In  case  one  of  the 
contracting  parties  shall  denounce  it,  that  denunciation  shall  take 
effect  only  as  regards  that  party  and  then  twelve  months  only  from 
the  date  of  the  said  denunciation. 

Article  9.  The  present  arrangement  shall  be  ratified  and  the  rati- 
fications shall  be  exchanged  at  Paris,  as  soon  as  possible. 

In  faith  whereof  the  respective  plenipotentiaries  have  signed  the 
present  agreement,  and  thereunto  affixed  their  seals. 

Done  at  Paris,  the  i8th  May,  1904,  in  single  copy,  which  shall  be 
deposited  in  the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the 
French  Republic,  and  of  which  one  copy,  certified  correct,  shall  be  sent 
to  each  contracting  party. 

1 A  complete  list  of  these  national  committees,  with  the  name  and 


204  The  Social  Evil 

Spain  the  matter  was  even  taken  up  by  the  throne 
and  a  Patronato  Real  was  formed  under  the  high- 
est official  auspices  to  aid.  Notwithstanding  the 
treaty,  however,  the  organised  traffic  seemed  to 
increase  rather  than  diminish,  and  as  a  consequence 
the  international  abolitionist  federation,  which, 
after  giving  the  original  impetus  to  the  whole 
movement,  had  left  the  matter  in  the  hands  of 
the  English  vigilance  committee  and  the  inter- 
national committee,  now  again  took  up  the 
subject  with  energy.  It  decided  to  devote  its 
international  congress  at  Geneva  in  1908  entirely 
to  this  topic.  In  the  proceedings  of  that 
congress,1  will  be  found  most  valuable  reports 
showing  that  in  most  of  the  continental  states, 
at  least,  there  is  a  very  close  relation  between 
the  white-slave  traffic  and  the  special  Morals 
Police,  and  that  this  police  force,  which  is  a 
necessary  adjunct  to  the  system  of  state  regulation 
of  vice,  has  actually  become  a  part  of  the  white- 
slave  system. 

Partly  as  a  result  of  the  Geneva  congress  of 
the  international  abolitionist  society,  and  partly 
owing  to  the  inauguration  of  the  Patronato 
Real  in  Spain,  a  third  preliminary  international 
white-slave  conference  was  held  in  Vienna  in 

addresses  of  the  secretaries,  will  be  found  in  Coote,  A  Vision  and  its 
Fulfilment  (1911),  p.  165. 

1  Federation  Abolitionniste  Internationale.  Dixieme  Congres  tenu  a 
Gen&veles  7-11  Septembre,  1908.  Compte  rendu  des  Travaux.  Geneva, 
1909,  407  pp. 


In  Europe  and  America  205 

October,  1909,  to  prepare  for  a  great  international 
congress,  to  be  held  in  Madrid  in  1910.  The 
discussions  in  Vienna  were  participated  in  by 
representatives  of  sixteen  nations,  and  occupied 
three  days,1  incidentally  giving  an  excellent 
account  of  what  had  been  accomplished  up  to 
that  date  by  the  national  committees. 

In  the  following  year  the  fourth  international 
white-slave  congress  duly  took  place  at  Madrid, 
lasting  from  the  24th  to  the  28th  of  October. 
It  was  attended  by  official  representatives  of 
fifteen  governments  and  by  delegates  from  the 
national  committees  of  twenty-one  countries. 
The  chief  subjects  that  came  up  for  discussion 
were  the  need  of  more  effective  police  measures, 
the  necessity  of  more  uniform  laws,  a  study  of  the 
sources  of  the  white-slave  traffic,  the  need  of  safe- 
guarding women  looking  for  employment,  and 
the  extension  to  adults  of  the  laws  governing 
the  white-slave  traffic  in  minors.  Incidentally, 
the  whole  question  of  regulation  came  up,  and 
a  sensation  was  created  by  the  announcement  of 
Dr.  Costello,  the  head  of  the  special  hospital  in 
Madrid,  that  he  had  become  thoroughly  convinced 
of  the  inefficacy  of  regulation,  and  had  become 
converted  to  the  abolitionist  programme.2 

1  La  Repression  de  la  Traite  des  Blanches.  Rapport  Officiel  de  la 
Conference  Internationale.  Tenue  les  5,  6,  et  7  Octobre,  1909.  Vienna, 
1909,  231  pp. 

3  An  account  of  this  and  similar  incidents  at  the  congress  at 
Madrid  will  be  found  in  the  Bulletin  Abolitionniste  for  November,  1910. 


206  The  Social  Evil 

The  Spanish  national  committee  presented  to 
the  congress  a  volume  containing  a  compilation 
of  the  legislation  of  all  countries  on  the  general 
question,  and  it  was  decided  to  hold  the  next 
international  congress  in  London,  1913.  Some  of 
the  recommendations  of  the  Madrid  congress  were 
incorporated  into  the  international  agreement  by 
the  amendments  of  May,  191 1,  to  the  international 
white-slave  treaty. 

Since  the  great  congress  at  Madrid,  both  the 
international  association  and  the  various  commit- 
tees are  pursuing  the  subject  energetically.  The 
international  association  publishes  a  monthly 
devoted  entirely  to  the  subject.1  Great  activity 
has  recently  been  displayed  by  the  Austrian 
league  whose  annual  reports  are  a  model  of  their 
kind.2  The  British  committee  has  branches  in 
many  of  the  large  cities  and  possesses  a  considerable 
staff  of  women  watchers  who  within  the  last  seven 
years  have  dealt  with  no  less  than  17,550  cases.3 
The  other  national  committees  also  publish  annual 

For  a  fuller  report  of  the  congress  see  TheVigilance  Record  for  November, 
1910,  and  The  Shield  for  December,  1910. 

1  La  Traite  des  Blanches.  Bulletin  du  Bureau  International.  This 
is  published  in  London  at  the  same  office  as  The  Vigilance  Record 
(see  supra,  p.  199). 

aThe  last  report,  published  in  1911,  is  entitled:  Bericht  des  Vereins 
"  Oesterreichische  Mddchen-  und  Kinder schutz  Liga"  (Oesterreichische 
Liga  zur  Bekampfung  des  Mddchenhandels) ,  uber  das  Vereinsjahr  IQIO, 
und  Generalversammlungs-Protokolle  vom  30  Mai  und  26  Juni,  IQII. 
Vienna,  1911,  100  pp. 

s  See  the  publication  entitled  The  White-Slave  Traffic.  Published 
at  the  offices  of  the  M.  A.  P.  London  (1909). 


In  Europe  and  America  207 

reports  and  pamphlets. l  The  movement  has  spread 
to  South  America  where  the  Argentine  Societe  de 
Protection  et  de  Secours  aux  Femmes  is  the  most 
prominent  of  the  national  associations. 

2.    The  White-Slave  Traffic  in  America 

In  the  United  States  the  movement  came  a  little 
later.  The  investigations  of  the  Committee  of 
Fifteen  had  disclosed  the  existence  of  a  similar 
shameful  traffic  in  New  York  City;  but  it  was  not 
until  1906  that  a  national  vigilance  committee  was 
formed  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  W.  A.  Coote, 
who,  we  know,  had  been  largely  instrumental 
in  organising  the  international  committees  in 
Europe,  came  to  help  and  did  much  to  arouse 
enthusiasm  in  the  various  cities  in  which  he  spoke. 
The  American  National  Vigilance  Committee  now 
has  members  in  every  state  of  the  Union,  with 
state  vigilance  committees  in  many  of  the  separate 
commonwealths.2 

Partly  as  a  result  of  the  work  accomplished  by 

1  Cf.,  e.  g.,  the  French  Association  pour  la  Repression  de  la  Traite  des 
Blanches  et  de  la  Preservation  de  la  Jeune  Fille.  Assemblee  Generale  du 
13  Juin,  ipn.  Paris,  1911. 

*  The  National  Vigilance  Committee  publishes  a  monthly  called,  since 
1910,  Vigilance,  which  gives  an  account  of  the  progress  of  the  move- 
ment throughout  the  country  and  in  Europe.  It  is  on  the  whole  a 
more  valuable  periodical  than  the  English  Vigilance  Record.  Early  in 
1912  the  committee  was  reorganised  under  the  name  of  the  American 
Vigilance  Association  with  Dr.  David  Starr  Jordan  as  president  and 
Mr.  Clifford  G.  Roe  as  executive  secretary. 


208  The  Social  Evil 

this  committee,  the  national  government  decided 
to  join  the  international  union,  and  on  June  6, 
1908,  President  Roosevelt  issued  a  proclamation 
declaring  the  adhesion  of  the  United  States  to 
the  white-slave  treaty.  Since  that  time  the 
work  of  breaking  up  the  white-slave  traffic  has 
been  actively  pursued  by  both  national  and  state 
governments,  the  federal  government  seeking 
to  look  after  the  immigrants,  and  the  separate 
states  dealing  with  the  internal  or  domestic  traffic. 
Federal  legislation  began  with  the  Howard- 
Bennett  Act  of  1907,  but  more  effective  laws  were 
due  in  large  measure  to  the  investigations  in- 
stituted by  the  commissioner-general  of  immi- 
gration, as  well  as  to  the  reports  of  the  state 
immigration  commission  of  New  York  and  of  the 
federal  immigration  commission.  The  preliminary 
report  of  the  federal  commission  in  1909  discloses, 
in  some  detail,  the  existence  of  this  nefarious 
traffic.1 

The  national  immigration  act  of  1908  sought 
to  provide  for  adequate  punishment  of  the 
malefactors,  and  in  the  successive  reports  of 
the  commissioner-general  of  immigration  will 
be  found  a  full  discussion  of  the  progress  made 
each  year.  Since  the  decision,  in  1909,  by  the 

1  See  Immigration  Report.  Importing  Women  for  Immoral  Purposes. 
A  Partial  Report  to  Congress  on  the  Importation  and  Harboring  of  Women 
for  Immoral  Purposes.  Senate  Document  196,  6ist  Congress,  2d 
Session,  61  pp. 


In  Europe  and  America  209 

United  States  supreme  court  in  the  Keller  case1 
which  declared  certain  sections  of  the  federal 
immigration  law  unconstitutional,  as  infringing 
on  the  reserved  rights  of  the  states,  it  became 
necessary  to  connect  any  person  whom  it  was 
proposed  to  punish  under  the  national  law  for 
harbouring  and  concealing  in  houses  of  ill-fame 
with  the  actual  importation.  As  this,  however, 
was  almost  impossible  to  prove  in  most  cases, 
an  effective  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the 
separate  states  has  become  indispensable.  The 
federal  government  attempted  to  remedy  the 
weakness  of  the  act  of  1908  by  enacting  in  1910 
a  new  and  comprehensive  law  known  as  the  White- 
Slave  Traffic  act,  or  Mann  act,  which  regulates 
not  only  foreign  traffic  in  women,  but  interstate 
traffic  as  well.2  Under  this  law  successful  prose- 
cution has  become  possible. 

A  notable  advance,  however,  has  more  recently 
been  made  in  the  separate  states.  In  each  of 
the  last  three  years,  ten  or  fifteen  states  have 
enacted  stringent  laws  designed  to  cope  with  the 
evil,  so  that  to-day  the  great  majority  of  the  states 
have  fairly  satisfactory  laws  on  the  subject.  Il- 
linois was  the  first  state  to  pass  (in  July,  1908) 
the  so-called  "pandering  law,"  and  under  this 

'213  U.S.,  138. 

a  The  exact  title  of  the  law  of  June  25,  1910,  is  "An  Act  to  further 
regulate  interstate  and  foreign  commerce  by  prohibiting  the  transpor- 
tation thereunder  for  immoral  purposes  of  women  and  girls  and  for 
other  purposes." 
14 


2io  The  Social  Evil 

act,  as  amended  later,  considerable  progress  has 
been  made  in  bringing  the  malefactors  to  the  bar. 
In  Chicago,  for  example,  where  Mr.  E.  W.  Sims, 
the  federal  district  attorney,  took  up  in  1908  the 
policy  initiated  two  years  before  by  Mr.  Clifford 
G.  Roe,  an  assistant  state  district  attorney,  the 
latter  was  now  put  in  charge  of  a  special  fund 
provided  by  public-spirited  citizens,  and  met  with 
remarkable  success  in  prosecuting  offenders.  The 
other  states  followed  rapidly  with  their  pandering 
laws  and  many  convictions  have  been  secured  and 
many  organised  gangs  of  traders  broken  up.1 

In  New  York  City  the  matter  has  recently  been 
brought  to  a  head  by  the  swearing  in,  on  January, 
1910,  of  a  special  grand  jury,  charged  to  investigate 
the  alleged  existence  in  New  York  of  such  organised 
traffic.  Additional  interest  was  lent  to  the  matter 
by  the  fact  that  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr., 
was  selected  as  foreman.  For  six  months  this 
jury  made  a  careful  study  of  existing  conditions 
and  employed  various  agents  through  the  district 

1  A  good  account  of  the  whole  subject  will  be  found  in  The  White- 
Slave  Traffic  in  America,  by  O.  Edward  Janney,  New  York,  1911.  Of 
less  value  although  containing  some  useful  information,  is  The  Great 
War  on  White  Slavery;  Horrors  of  the  White-Slave  Traffic,  by  Clifford  G. 
Roe,  Chicago,  1911.  The  same  work  was  later  issued,  without  illus- 
trations, under  the  title,  The  Prodigal  Daughter:  The  White-Slave  Evil 
and  the  Remedy.  An  earlier  work  by  Mr.  Roe  is  Panders  and  their 
White  Slaves.  An  admirable  treatment  of  the  subject  will  be  found  in 
a  series  of  articles  by  Miss  Jane  Addams  in  McClure's  Magazine,  be- 
ginning with  November,  1911,  entitled  "A  New  Conscience  and  an 
Ancient  Evil."  This  is  to  be  published  as  a  book  in  1912. 


In  Europe  and  America  211 

attorney's  office,  for  the  detection  of  crime,  a 
special  appropriation  of  $25,000  having  been  made 
by  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  to 
cover  the  expenses  of  the  investigation.  The 
jury  rendered  its  presentment  in  June,  19 io.x 
They  reported  that  while  they  had  not  been  able 
to  find  any  evidence  of  organisations  engaged  in 
the  traffic,  they  had  discovered  "that  a  trafficking 
in  the  bodies  of  women  does  exist  and  is  carried 
on  by  individuals  acting  for  their  own  individual 
benefit,  and  that  these  persons  are  known  to  each 
other  and  are  more  or  less  informally  associated." 
The  grand  jury  further  reported  that  they 
also  found  that  associations  and  clubs,  composed 
mainly  or  wholly  of  those  profiting  from  vice, 
have  existed,  and  that  one  such  association  still 
exists.  These  associations  and  clubs  are  analogous 
to  commercial  bodies  in  other  fields,  which,  while 
not  directly  engaged  in  commerce,  are  composed 
of  individuals  all  of  whom  as  individuals  are  so 
engaged.  The  grand  jury  also  declared  that 
the  "incorporated  syndicates"  and  "international 
bands"  referred  to  in  published  statements  are 
really  more  or  less  informal  relations,  and  that  the 
1 '  international  headquarters , "  "  clearing-houses , ' ' 
and  pretentious  "club-houses"  often  spoken  of 

1  White-Slave  Traffic.  Presentment  of  the  Additional  Grand  Jury  for 
the  January  Term  of  the  Court  of  Special  Sessions  in  the  County  of  New 
York,  as  to  the  A  lleged  Existence  in  the  County  of  New  York  of  an  Organised 
Traffic  in  Women  for  Immoral  Purposes.  Filed  June  29,  IQIO. — New 
York,  1910,  16  pp. 


212  The  Social  Evil 

are  in  reality  cafes  or  other  so-called  ''hangouts" 
where  people  interested  in  the  various  branches  of 
the  business  resort.  These  and  the  houses  of 
prostitution  are  also  referred  to  as  "markets." 
In  the  language  of  the  New  York  market,  the 
"dealers"  and  "operators"  are  the  so-called 
"pimps"  and  "procurers,"  the  "pimp"  being  re- 
ferred to  as  the  "retailer"  and  the  manager  of 
houses  as  the  "wholesaler." 

After  a  significant  and  thorough  discussion  of 
the  subject,  the  grand  jury  made  the  following 
recommendations : 

1.  That  no  effort  be  spared  in  bringing  to 
justice  the  so-called  "pimp."    When  the  character 
and  prevalence  of  these  creatures  are  more  fully 
realised  and  public  sentiment  aroused  regarding 
them,  the  inadequate  punishment  now  imposed 
should  be  increased  and  every  legitimate  means 
devised  and  put  into  execution  to  exterminate  them. 

2.  That    the    existing   laws   be   more   rigidly 
enforced  to  safeguard  the  patrons  of  the  moving- 
picture  shows,   and  that  parents  and  guardians 
exercise  more  careful  supervision  over  their  chil- 
dren in  connection  with  their  attendance  upon 
these  shows. 

3.  That  vigorous  efforts  be  made  to  minimise 
the  possibility  of  the  Raines-Law  hotel  becoming 
a    disorderly   house,    and   that   where    necessary 
proper  supervision  and  inspection  looking  toward 
that  end  be  provided. 


In  Europe  and  America  213 

4.  That  the  so-called  massage  and  manicure 
parlours  be  put  under  the  control  of  the  Health 
Department;      that  a  license  from  this  depart- 
ment be  required  for   their  operation;   that   cer- 
tificates be  granted  to   operators  only  by   some 
approved    medical    authority,    and    that    proper 
measures  be  taken  to  enforce  these  laws. 

5.  That  the  laws  relating  to  prostitution  in 
apartment  and  tenement  houses  be  rigidly  enforced, 
and  that  the  present  laws  be  supplemented  if 
necessary. 

6.  That  a  commission  be  appointed  by  the 
mayor  to  make  a  careful  study  of  the  laws  relating 
to,  and  the  methods  of  dealing  with,  the  social 
evil  in  the  leading  cities  of  this  country  and  of 
Europe,  with  a  view  to  devising  the  most  effective 
means  of  minimising  the  evil  in  this  city. 

In  line  with  the  last  recommendation  in  the  pre- 
sentment, the  mayor  asked  the  foreman  of  the  grand 
jury  to  suggest  suitable  commissioners,  although 
expressing  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  appointing 
such  a  commission.  For  a  number  of  months 
the  foreman,  Mr.  Rockefeller,  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  field  for  such  a  commission,  hav- 
ing personal  conferences  with  numerous  representa- 
tive men  and  women  in  the  city  in  all  walks  of 
life.  The  result,  however,  was  to  the  effect  that 
an  unofficial  rather  than  an  official  organisation 
seemed  desirable.  This  view  was  presented  to  the 
mayor,  who  cordially  agreed  with  the  conclusions 


214  The  Social  Evil 

reached.  It  was  clear  to  those  who  had  studied 
the  problem  that  two  things  were  necessary  to 
the  success  of  any  movement  looking  towards  the 
reduction  of  commercialised  vice: 

1 .  That  the  warfare  against  evil-doers  should 
be  permanent — that  is,  that  the  organisation  tak- 
ing up  the  work  should  be  a  permanent  rather 
than  a  temporary  one. 

2.  That  the  work  in  its  initial  and  experimental 
stages  should  be  carried  on  entirely  apart  from 
publicity;  that  it  should  begin  in  a  small  way  and 
develop  as  the  problem  was  grasped  and  as  wise 
methods  of  attack  presented  themselves. 

It  is  understood  that  a  small  and  informal 
committee  has  been  formed,  which  is  to  be  the 
nucleus  of  a  permanent  organisation,  the  purpose 
of  which  is  to  deal  eventually  with  the  larger 
question  involved,  the  committee  addressing  itself 
for  the  present  to  a  careful  study  of  the  problem 
and  the  working  out  of  wise  lines  of  attack. 

In  the  light  of  what  has  been  stated  in  the 
preceding  pages,  it  is  clear  that  public  opinion 
throughout  the  United  States  is  now  gradually 
being  aroused  to  the  enormities  of  this  infamous 
traffic,  and  that  during  the  next  few  years  we  may 
expect  to  see  a  decided  progress  made  in  the 
checking  of  what  has  become  the  most  shameful 
species  of  business  enterprise  in  modern  times. 


CHAPTER  III 
A  DECADE'S  DEVELOPMENT  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

THE  immediate  results  of  the  work  of  the 
Committee  of  Fifteen  have  been  recounted  above 
in  the  preceding  portions  of  this  book.  Having 
accomplished  its  chief  object,  in  part  at  least, 
and  for  the  time  being,  the  committee  dissolved. 
But  it  was  not  long  before  the  need  was  felt  for 
taking  up  the  work  anew  along  several  different 
lines.  The  three  chief  manifestations  of  this 
newer  movement  were:  The  inauguration  of  the 
Committee  of  Fourteen;  the  formation  of  the 
American  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophy- 
laxis, followed  by  similar  societies  elsewhere;  and 
the  creation  of  vice  commissions  in  several  cities, 
notably  Chicago  and  Minneapolis. 

We  shall  deal  with  each  of  these  in  order. 

I.     The  Committee  of  Fourteen 

In  its  original  report  the  Committee  of  Fifteen 
had  called  especial  attention  to  the  evils  connected 
with  the  Raines-Law  hotels.  As  these  evils  seemed 

215 


2i 6  The  Social  Evil 

to  increase  rather  than  diminish,  a  committee  of 
fourteen  citizens  of  New  York  was  organised  in 
1905,  for  the  express  purpose  of  suppressing  these 
hotels.  The  committee  included  in  its  member- 
ship a  few  of  the  old  Committee  of  Fifteen,  as  well 
as  the  widow  of  its  lamented  chairman,  who  had 
in  the  meantime  passed  away.  It  was  soon 
recognised,  however,  that  many  other  evils  were 
connected  with  the  existing  laws.  Accordingly 
a  sub-committee  was  created  in  1907,  for  the  closer 
investigation  of  these  other  phases  of  the  social 
evil,  and  before  long  assumed  the  name  of  the 
Research  Committee  of  the  Committee  of  Fourteen. 
Its  first  work  was  to  investigate  the  relation  of 
the  magistrates'  courts  to  the  women  of  the  street 
in  New  York  City,  and  also  the  disposition  of 
disorderly-house  cases  of  all  kinds,  and  in  the 
care  of  special  associations.  This  report  was 
submitted  to  Governor  Hughes,  and  had  no  little 
influence  in  the  creation  of  the  Page  commission 
(so-called  from  its  chairman,  Mr.  Alfred  R.  Page), 
formed  to  investigate  the  courts  of  minor  criminal 
jurisdiction  in  New  York. 

The  report I  of  that  commission  resulted  in  the 
passage  of  the  famous  Page  law,2  which  revolution- 
ised the  procedure  in  the  New  York  city  magis- 

1  Final  Report  of  the  Commission  to  inquire  into  Courts  of  Inferior 
Criminal  Jurisdiction  in  Cities  of  the  First  Class,  Albany,  1910,  pp.  81. 
The  proceedings  were  published  in  1909  in  two  thick  volumes. 

3  Act  of  June  25,  1910,  ch.  659,  with  short  title:  "Inferior  Criminal 
Courts  Act  of  the  City  of  New  York." 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.    217 

trates'  courts  and  which  introduced  a  host  of  other 
beneficent  changes.  In  the  meantime  the  re- 
search committee  had  begun  in  1908  their  larger 
investigation  into  the  administration  of  all  the 
laws  which  had  any  direct  reference  to  the  social 
evil  and  after  two  years  of  close  investigation 
published  their  report  in  19 IO.1 

As  the  report  was  confined  to  the  problem  of 
law  enforcement,  the  committee  did  not  attempt 
to  ascertain  the  causes  of  the  extent  of  the  social 
evil,  or  to  deal  with  the  various  systems  of  regula- 
tion, or  with  the  arguments  for  or  against  its 
existence.  They  limited  their  efforts  to  the  study 
of  each  particular  law,  and  to  a  presentation  of 
so  much  of  the  prevailing  conditions  as  might 
fairly  represent  the  effectiveness  of  the  law.  The 
report  classified  the  laws  into  seven  groups, 
according  as  they  affected  the  following  points: 

1.  Social    conditions,    embracing    the    places 
where   prostitution   is   carried   on   or  facilitated, 
such    as     tenement    houses,    disorderly    houses, 
Raines-Law  hotels,  and  dance  halls. 

2.  The    protection  of    women,    covering  such 
topics  as  seduction  under  promise  of  marriage,  com- 
pulsory marriage,  compulsory  prostitution  of  wives, 
vagrancy,  and  disorderly  conduct. 

3.  The  modification  of  penalties  and  procedure 

1  The  Social  Evil  in  New  York  City:  A  Study  of  Law  Enforcement  by  the 
Research  Committee  of  the  Committee  of  Fourteen.  New  York,  1910,  pp. 
268, 


2i 8  The  Social  Evil 

in  the  attempt  to  better  the  conditions  of  the 
unfortunate  women.  Under  this  head  special 
attention  was  paid  to  prohibition  laws  and  to  the 
night  courts. 

4.  Special   education,    especially   the   matters 
connected  with  obscene    prints  and   articles,  the 
display  of  immoral  pictures,  and  the  presentation 
of  immoral  plays  and  exhibitions. 

5.  The  protection  of  the  family.     Under  this 
head  fell  the  laws  connected  with  marriage  licenses, 
false   personation,    adultery,  abortion,   and   mid- 
wifery. 

6.  The  protection  of  children,  more  especially 
the  problems  of  rape,  of  abduction,  of  kidnapping, 
of  child  labour,  and  the  children's  court. 

7.  The    protection    of    those    seeking    work, 
covering   investigation  of  the  employment  agen- 
cies. 

On  each  of  those  points  the  committee  presented 
a  mass  of  information  which  it  would  be  hopeless 
to  attempt  to  summarise  here.  The  conclusion 
to  which  the  committee  came  was  that  the  social 
evil  in  New  York  City  is  an  elaborate  system 
systematically  fostered  by  business  interests 
rather  than  a  consequence  of  emotional  demand. 
What  reformers  have  to  deal  with,  they  tell  us, 
is  not  simply  vice  as  such,  but  vice  as  a  business 
conducted  for  profit,  with  various  beneficiaries 
in  all  walks  of  life.  The  committee  understated 
rather  than  overstated  the  evils  of  the  situation, 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.    219 

and  rigidly  eliminated  from  the  report  all  sensa- 
tional matter. 

The  committee  tell  us  that  they  began  the 
investigation  with  the  expectation  of  finding  the 
laws  fairly  well-enforced.  They  declare  that 
the  truth  has  been  a  painful  surprise,  but  that 
nevertheless,  sombre  as  is  the  picture,  it  is  not 
without  hopeful  features;  that  the  first  step 
toward  improvement  cannot  be  taken  until  exist- 
ing conditions  are  fully  realised.  They  put  the 
main  emphasis,  however,  not  upon  the  enact- 
ment of  new  laws,  but  upon  the  enforcement 
of  existing  laws,  which  in  itself  would  bring 
about  a  notable  improvement.  "It  is  entirely 
possible  for  public  opinion  to  demand  and  secure 
the  appointment  of  officials  who  shall  be  free 
from  political  and  financial  influence,  and  who 
shall  administer  the  laws  with  intelligence  and 
even-handed  justice.  It  is  entirely  possible  di- 
rectly to  rid  our  streets  and  tenements  of  the 
social  evil;  possible  to  force  its  withdrawal  from 
the  conspicuous  place  which  it  occupies  in  the 
community  to-day;  possible  to  surround  with 
wholesome  influences  the  places  to  which  young 
people  go  for  innocent  amusement,  and  to  separate 
them  from  association  with  the  liquor  traffic  and 
the  social  evil;  possible  to  protect  our  children, 
by  enforcement  of  the  child -labour,  education, 
and  similar  laws,  from  daily  exposure  to  the 
moral  contamination  to  which  many  of  them  are 


22O  The  Social  Evil 

subjected;  possible  to  hunt  to  their  undoing  the 
unscrupulous  or  indifferent  business  interests  which 
profit  from  the  exploitation  of  vice,  unwitting 
chat  their  cupidity  is  a  baser  sin  than  the  lust 
on  which  it  profits." 

As  a  result   of  the  careful  investigation,   the 
committee  made  the  following  recommendations: 

1 .  The  appointment  of  a  non-salaried  commis- 
sion to  make  a  further  study  of  the  problem,  to 
look  after  the  enforcement  of  existing  laws,  and 
to  recommend  changes  whenever  desirable. 

2.  A  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  magistrates, 
and  an  improvement  in  their  personnel. 

3.  Instead  of  punishment  for  the  unfortunate 
women,  the  weight  of  public  opinion  should  be 
brought    to    bear    upon    the    profit-sharers — the 
men  higher  up. 

4.  The  separation  of  recreation  from  vice. 

5.  Co-operation  between  the  officials  charged 
with  the  enforcement  of  the  various  laws. 

6.  The  burden  of  punishment  should  not  fall 
alone  upon  women. 

7.  The    development    of    local    improvement 
boards. 

8.  The   abolition   of  the    system    of  fine  for 
repeated  offences  and  the  establishment  of  accurate 
records  and  means  of  identification. 

9.  The  publication  in  code  form  of  all  the  laws 
governing  the  social  evil  and  a  digest  of  the  decisions. 

The  chief  results  of  the  work  of  the  Committee 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     221 

of  Fourteen,  outside  of  the  impetus  given  to  the 
movement  which  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the 
Page  law,  have  been  some  notable  improvements 
in  the  New  York  excise  law,  and  more  efficient  ad- 
ministration of  the  laws,  not  only  by  the  state 
excise  department  but  by  the  local  authorities,  such 
as  the  courts,  the  district  attorney,  and  the  police. 
In  1905,  there  were  over  twelve  hundred  Raines- 
Law  hotels  in  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx;  in  1911, 
this  number  has  been  reduced  to  87 — a  remarkable 
showing.  This  result  could  not  have  been 
attained  without  the  co-operation  of  the  brewers 
and  of  the  surety  companies  writing  excise 
bonds,  without  which  no  hotel  can  secure  a 
license. 

The  programme  of  the  committee  for  the  immed- 
iate future  is  declared  to  be  as  follows:  constant 
supervision  of  probationary  places  to  maintain 
proper  conditions ;  active  efforts  to  secure  improved 
conditions  in  saloons  and  hotels  through  the 
co-operation  of  the  brewers;  aggressive  fighting 
of  the  incorrigibly  bad  places;  effective  opposition 
to  any  attempt  to  weaken  the  restrictive  sections 
of  the  excise  law;  cordial  co-operation  with  other 
organisations  to  secure  a  broad  and  effective 
movement  against  all  phases  of  commercialised 
sexual  vice;  and  extension  of  the  work  to  the 
Bronx  and  Brooklyn,  where  conditions,  however, 
have  been  .shown  to  be  different  from  Manhattan, 
in  that  there  is  much  less  commercialism. 


222  The  Social  Evil 

2.     The  Societies  Formed  to  Combat  the  Social  Evil 

A  few  months  after  the  institution  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  the  New  York  Medical  Society 
appointed  a  committee  to  study  measures  to 
reduce  the  spread  of  venereal  deseases.  The 
chairman  of  this  committee  was  Dr.  Prince  A. 
Morrow,  a  distinguished  specialist  who  had  been  a 
delegate  to  the  international  Brussels  conference. 
The  committee  became  known  as  the  Committee 
of  Seven  and  its  report,1  which  for  the  first  time 
in  America  gathered  statistics  on  the  subject, 
attracted  great  attention,  but  chiefly  among  phy- 
sicians. On  May  23,  1904,  however,  Dr.  Morrow 
read  a  paper  in  which  he  advanced  the  proposition 
to  form  in  this  country  a  society  of  sanitary  and 
moral  prophylaxis,  similar  to  those  abroad.  The 
facts  to  which  attention  was  especially  invited 
were  the  following2: 

I.  The  enormous  prevalence  of  the  venereal 
diseases,  and  their  significance  as  a  danger  to 
public  health.  It  was  declared  to  be  a  conservative 
estimate  that  fully  one-eighth  of  all  diseases  and 
suffering  are  due  to  this  source,  and  that  the  in- 
cidence of  the  diseases  falls  most  heavily  upon 

1  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Seven  on  the  Prophylaxis  of  Venereal  Dis- 
ease in  New  York  City.  By  the  chairman.  Reprinted  from  the 
Medical  News,  Dec.  21,  1901. 

*  Cf.  the  pamphlet  entitled  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis: 
Origin  of  this  Movement.  Its  Objects,  Means,  and  Methods  of  Work. 
By  Prince  A.  Morrow,  M.D.  New  York,  1908. 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     223 

the  young,  during  the  most  active  and  productive 
period  of  life. 

2.  Dangers  to  the  innocent  members  of  society. 
Of  the   large   proportion   of   men   who   contract 
such  diseases,  many  of  them  carry  this  infection 
into  the  family.     It  was  stated  that  eighty  per 
cent,  of  the  deaths  from  inflammatory  diseases 
peculiar  to  women,  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  all 
special  surgical  operations  performed  on  women, 
and  over  sixty  per  cent,  of  all  the  work  done  by 
specialists   in  diseases   of  women  are  the  result 
of  infection  of  innocent  women.     Moreover,  fifty 
per  cent,  or  more  of  these  infected  women  are 
rendered  irremediably  sterile,  and  many  are  con- 
demned to  life-long  invalidism. 

3.  Dangers  to  the  offspring.     Fully  eighty  per 
cent,  of  the  ophthalmia  which  blots  out  the  eyes 
of  babies,  and  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  of 
all  blindness,  are  caused  by  what  is  known  as  gono- 
coccus  infection.      Sixty  to  eighty  per  cent,   of 
infected  children  die  before  being  born,  or  come 
into  the  world  with  the  mark  of  death  upon  them. 
Those  that  finally  survive — one  in  four  or  five — 
are   the   subjects   of   degenerative   changes   and 
organic   defects,    which   may   be   transmitted   to 
the  third  generation.      It  is  for  this  reason  that 
these  diseases  have  sometimes  been   designated 
in  recent  years  as  "the  great  black  plague"  whose 
ravages  have  always  been  covered   up  and  con- 
cealed from  the  public. 


224  The  Social  Evil 

4.  The  economic  significance  of  the  fact  that 
these  diseases  constitute  the  most  potent  factor 
in  the  causation  of  blindness,  deaf -mutism,  idiocy, 
insanity,   paralysis,   locomotor  ataxia,  and  other 
incurable    afflictions    that    impose    an    enormous 
charge  upon  the  community. 

5.  Relation  to  tuberculosis.     It  is  well  recog- 
nised by  the  medical  profession  that  venereal  dis- 
eases,  by  lowering   the   vitality  and   weakening 
resistance,  produce  a  condition  favourable  to  the 
development  of  tuberculosis.     Until  the  spread  of 
syphilis  is  effectively  checked,  the  fight  against 
tuberculosis  will  be  but  partially  successful. 

The  founders  of  the  movement  declared  that 
the  most  lamentable  fact  about  the  whole  situation 
is  the  ignorance  of  the  general  public.  An  essen- 
tial part  of  the  society's  programme,  therefore,  was 
destined  to  be  educational  in  character,  and  this 
education  was  to  embrace  the  following  factors: 

First,  the  general  dissemination  of  knowledge 
among  the  public,  in  a  proper  and  discreet  manner, 
of  the  extent  and  danger  of  these  diseases,  and 
their  modes  of  contagion,  direct  and  indirect. 

Secondly,  the  enlightenment  of  the  public  re- 
specting the  social  danger  of  these  diseases,  es- 
pecially to  the  innocent  members  of  society, 
through  their  introduction  into  marriage. 

Thirdly,  the  education  of  young  people  in  a 
knowledge  of  their  physical  selves,  and  of  the 
laws  and  hygiene  of  sex. 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     225 

The  invitations  found  a  ready  response,  espe- 
cially as  Dr.  Morrow  had  in  the  meantime  published 
his  admirable  work  Social  Diseases  and  Marriage, 
written  to  create  a  professional  sentiment  in  favour 
of  the  movement.  In  this  it  succeeded  beyond 
expectation,  and  in  the  beginning  of  1905  the 
American  Society  of  Social  and  Moral  Prophylaxis 
came  into  existence,  with  several  members  of  the 
old  Committee  of  Fifteen  on  its  governing  board 
and  in  the  membership  lists.  The  society  held 
frequent  meetings,  at  which  all  manner  of  topics 
connected  with  the  general  subject  were  discussed, 
on  the  basis  of  scientific  investigation  and  accurate 
presentation.  In  this  way  the  end  was  attained  of 
gradually  accustoming  the  public  to  a  discussion 
of  the  topic  which  had  been  so  long  tabooed.  Most 
of  the  papers  presented  dealt  with  the  problem  of 
preventive  medicine,  chiefly  in  its  educational 
aspects.  The  educational  work  of  the  society 
consisted  of  public  meetings  and  conferences, 
of  lectures,  and  of  the  circulation  of  educational 
literature  and  pamphlets.  The  public  meetings 
and  conferences  were  reported  in  volumes  of 
transactions  published  every  two  years,  forming 
a  valuable  arsenal  of  facts  and  a  well-digested 
set  of  conclusions.1 


1  Transactions  of  the  American  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Pro- 
phylaxis.    Vol.  i.,  1906,  166  pp.;  vol.  ii.,  1908,  246pp.;  vol.  iii.,  1910, 
211  pp.  The  office  of  the  Secretary  is  at  29  West  42d  Street,  New  York 
City. 
IS 


226  The  Social  Evil 

The  efforts  connected  with  educational  literature 
consisted  largely  of  the  preparation  and  dissemi- 
nation of  the  so-called  "educational  pamphlets." 
Some  of  these  have  been  distributed  by  the  tens 
of  thousands  and  constitute  in  many  respects 
the  best  available  literature  on  the  subject  that 
is  to  be  found  in  English.1  In  fact,  one  notable 
feature  of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  New 
York  society  has  been  the  accustoming  of  the 
public  to  the  discussion  of  these  topics.  As 
the  president  of  the  society  has  said:  "The  real 
difficulty  is  that  we  have  been  unable  to  reach 
the  great  masses  of  the  public  to  any  effective 
extent.  The  public  press  and  periodicals  which 
serve  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  masses,  and 
which  have  rendered  such  signal  service  in  the 
campaign  against  tuberculosis  and  other  infectious 
diseases  through  the  popularising  of  hygienic 
knowledge,  are  absolutely  barred  to  the  mention 
even  of  the  diseases  which  we  wish  to  prevent. 
I  believe  that  with  publicity  for  a  fulcrum  we 
have  in  our  facts  a  sufficiently  strong  lever  to 
move  the  world.  .  .  .  Once  the  crust  of  con- 
ventional prejudice  is  broken  by  a  courageous 

1  The  educational  pamphlets  are  as  follows: 

i.  The  Young  Man's  Problem,  32  pp.  2.  Instruction  in  Physiology 
and  Hygiene  of  Sex,  24  pp.  3.  The  Relations  of  Social  Diseases  with 
Marriage  and  their  Prophylaxis,  72  pp.  4.  The  Boy  Problem  for  Parents 
and  Teachers,  32  pp.  5.  How  my  Uncle,  the  Doctor,  Instructed  me  in 
Matters  of  Sex.,  32  pp.  6.  Health  and  the  Hygiene  of  Sex,  for  College 
Students,  32  pp.  7.  Sex  Instruction  for  Little  Girls  (in  preparation). 
8.  Instruction  for '  Unprotected  Young  Women  (in  preparation). 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.    227 

leader,  there  is  no  doubt  that  other  progressive 
periodicals  will  fall  into  line."1 

Not  only  has  the  society  had  some  measure 
of  success  in  accomplishing  this  end,  but  it  has 
prepared  the  way  for  the  construction  in  New 
York  of  a  large  special  hospital  for  venereal 
patients,  and  it  has  given  considerable  strength 
to  the  movement  for  securing  a  national  census 
of  venereal  morbidity  and  mortality  in  the  United 
States. 

It  was  not  long  before  branches  of  the  American 
Society,  or  associations  with  similar  aims  and 
purposes,  were  started.  Beginning  in  the  year 
1906,  and  rapidly  following  in  the  succeeding 
years,  such  societies  were  formed  in  Syracuse, 
Buffalo,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis, 
Hartford,  Milwaukee,  Detroit,  Oakland,  Denver, 
Chicago,  Indianapolis,  Portland  (Ore.),  Spokane, 
Elkins  (W.  Va.),  San  Antonio,  Providence, 
Seattle,  and  East  Orange.2  Of  these  eighteen 
societies  one-half  (California,  Colorado,  Connec- 
ticut, Indiana,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  Rhode 
Island,  Texas,  and  West  Virginia)  are  state,  the 

1  Social  Diseases,  January  1910,  p.  n.  The  hope  here  expressed 
has  been  in  part  realised  by  the  appearance  of  the  articles  on  the  sub- 
ject by  Miss  Jane  Addams,  mentioned  above  on  p.  210. 

3  There  is  also  a  society  in  the  city  of  Mexico.  The  names  of  these 
societies  vary  slightly,  including  such  differences  as:  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Social  Diseases,  Society  of  Social  Hygiene,  Society  of  Sex 
Hygiene,  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Education,  Society  of  Social 
and  Moral  Hygiene,  Society  for  the  Study  and  Prevention  of  Gonorrhoea 
and  Syphilis,  Sanitary  Association  and  Society  for  Social  Health. 


228  The  Social  Evil 

remainder  local  associations.  M  any  of  these  socie- 
ties publish  literature  of  their  own,  and  are  aiding 
materially  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  move- 
ment throughout  the  country,  co-operating  also 
with  the  vigilance  committees  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  chapter  and  designed  to  suppress  the 
white-slave  traffic.1  Tn  several  states,  notably 
California,  Florida,  Idaho,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Ken- 
tucky, Michigan,  Ohio,  North  Dakota,  and  Rhode 
Island,  the  state  board  of  health  has  been  in- 
duced to  take  up  the  matter  and  spread  broad- 
cast suitable  literature.2 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1910,  the  interest 
in  the  subject  had  become  so  great  that  a  general 
demand  arose  for  a  bulletin  or  journal  to  serve  as 
the  official  organ  of  the  various  societies  throughout 
this  country.  In  order  to  satisfy  this  demand,  a 
quarterly  periodical  was  started,  entitled  Social 

1  Cf.  especially  the  publications  of  the  Chicago  and  Spokane 
societies,  of  which  the  most  important  have  been:  (i)  Sexual  Hy- 
giene for  Young  Men ;  (2)  Family  Protection ;  (3)  Community 
Protection ;  (4)  Comments  on  the  Aims  and  Efforts  of  the  Society  of 
Social  Hygiene. 

3  Among  such  information  are  the  following  sex  hygiene  circulars, 
issued  by  the  Rhode  Island  state  board  of  health:  (i)  For  Young 
Men ;  (2)  Information  for  Persons  having  Syphilitic  and  Gonorrhceal 
Diseases;  (3)  Infection  for  Young  Women;  Ophthalmia  Neonatorum: 
Preventive  Treatment,  Suggestions,  and  Treatment  of  the  Disease.  Cf. 
also  the  excellent  health  circular  issued  by  the  Indiana  state  board  of 
health:  Social  Hygiene  vs.  The  Sexual  Plagues,  with  their  Rapid  Invasion 
of  the  American  Home;  The  Horrible  Consequences  of  Sex  Secrecy  and 
the  Obligation  of  Parents  in  the  State  to  Protect  the  Rising  Generation. 
Indianapolis  (1910),  38  pp. 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.    229 

Diseases:  Report  of  the  Progress  of  the  Movement 
for  their  Prevention.  This  did  its  work  so  well 
that  in  June  of  the  same  year  a  meeting  of  the 
delegates  from  the  various  societies  was  held  in 
St.  Louis,  and  a  national  organisation  was  formed 
under  the  name  of  the  American  Federation  for 
Sex  Hygiene.  The  purpose  of  this  federation 
was  declared  to  be  the  education  of  the  public 
in  the  physiology  and  hygiene  of  the  sex,  and  the 
study  and  application  of  every  means — educational, 
sanitary,  moral,  and  legislative — for  the  prevention 
of  syphilis  and  of  gonococcus  infection.  Dr.  Mor- 
row was  elected  president,  and  emeritus  president 
Eliot  of  Harvard  University  was  made  honorary 
president,  with  a  distinguished  list  of  vice-presidents 
of  national  reputation.  The  following  resolutions 
offered  by  a  noted  physician  were  adopted  for  pre- 
sentation to  the  American  Medical  Association, 
with  the  request  that  they  be  accepted  as  the  public 
attitude  of  that  body  also : 

"  Whereas,  there  is  ample  evidence  of  a  belief, 
deeply  grounded,  among  the  laity,  that  sexual 
indulgence  is  necessary  to  the  health  of  the  normal 
man:  and, 

"  Whereas,  there  exists,  in  consequence,  widely 
differing  and  double  standards  of  moral  and  of 
physical  health  for  the  male  and  female  sexes, 
that  lead  directly  to  the  disease  and  death  of  many 
women  and  children: 

"Be   it    resolved,    that  the  American   M^edical 


230  The  Social  Evil 

Association,  through  its  House  of  Delegates,  hereby 
presents  for  the  instruction  and  protection  of  the 
lay  public  the  unqualified  declaration  that  illicit 
sexual  intercourse  is  not  only  unnecessary  to 
health,  but  that  its  direct  consequence  in  terms  of 
infectious  disease  constitutes  a  grave  menace  to 
the  physical  integrity  of  the  individual  and  the 
nation." 

The  objects  of  the  national  society  are,  therefore, 
primarily  educational.  That  there  is  need  of 
this  can  scarcely  be  doubted.  We  are  told  that, 
in  consequence  of  the  awakening  of  public  interest 
in  the  sex  problem,  a  deluge  of  so-called  sex  books 
is  now  flooding  the  country — a  few  of  them 
good,  more  of  them  indifferent,  and  most  of  them 
positively  bad.  This  multiplication  of  harmful 
literature  constitutes  a  real  danger.  It  is  import- 
ant to  separate  the  wheat  from  the  chaff — to 
recommend  what  is  good  and  to  condemn  what 
is  bad.  Furthermore,  many  persons  have  entered 
the  lecture  field  who  are  not  qualified  by  either 
knowledge  or  experience  to  undertake  this  difficult 
and  delicate  work,  and  who  by  their  injudicious 
utterances  offend  rather  than  educate  the  public. 
Another  danger,  we  are  told,  consists  in  the 
precipitancy  and  haste  with  which  the  introduction 
of  sex  instruction  in  the  public  schools  has  been 
urged  by  many  who  do  not  fully  appreciate  the 
difficulties.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  at 
present  an  utter  lack  of  preparation  on  the  part 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     231 

of  teachers,  and  also  a  want  of  elementary 
text-books.  What  the  new  society  has  primarily 
in  view  is  the  organisation  of  an  influential 
central  body,  composed  of  wise  and  experienced 
educators,  who  shall  co-ordinate  and  standardise 
the  work  of  sex  instruction,  formulate  the  matter 
and  method  of  this  instruction,  prepare  suitable 
text-books,  and  establish  special  courses  for  the 
education  of  teachers  for  this  delicate  and  difficult 
task.1 

The  formation  of  the  national  society  will 
probably  form  a  turning  point  in  the  history  of 
the  whole  movement  in  America. 

3.     The  Page  Law  in   New    York   and  the   Vice 
Commissions  in  Chicago  and  Minneapolis 

The  years  1910-11  have  witnessed  the  culmina- 
tion of  the  new  interest  in  the  general  problem  as 
manifested  not  only  in  the  formation  of  the  national 
society,  but  in  the  defeat  of  the  attempt  to  in- 
troduce the  beginnings  of  reglementation  in  New 
York  City,  and  in  the  remarkable  reports  of  the 
Chicago  and  Minneapolis  commissions. 

The  discussion  as  to  the  best  methods  of  dealing 
with  the  social  evil  as  a  whole  was  precipitated  in 
an  acute  form  in  New  York  City  by  the  controversy 
over  the  famous  section  79  of  the  Page  law.  The 
Page  law,  to  which  reference  has  already  been 

1  Social  Diseases,  July,  1911,  p.  2. 


232  The  Social  Evil 

made  above,1  was  admirable  in  almost  all  its 
features.  It  included,  however,  one  section  which 
had  been  slipped  into  it  without  adequate  dis- 
cussion, largely  through  the  efforts  of  a  New 
York  physician  who  had  been  much  influenced  by 
the  German  reglementists. 

This  section  79,  it  may  be  said  in  passing,  was 
not  the  first  attempt  to  introduce  the  state  regu- 
lation of  vice  by  law  into  the  United  States.  The 
short-lived  St.  Louis  experiment  of  1870-74  has 
been  touched  upon  above  in  the  body  of  this  work. 2 
But  it  is  not  generally  known  that  in  1876  a 
similar  attempt  was  made  in  New  York  City.  In 
that"  year  the  grand  jury  of  the  court  of  general 
sessions  made  a  presentment,  closing  with  a 
resolution  which  requested  the  legislature  to 
segregate  houses  of  ill-fame,  and  to  subject  them 
at  all  times  to  the  careful  and  vigilant  supervision 
of  the  boards  of  health  and  police.3  Mrs.  Joseph- 
ine E.  Butler  happened  to  be  in  New  York  at  the 
time,  and  at  once  took  the  lead  in  starting  a  pub- 
lic agitation,  which  culminated  in  the  formation 
of  the  New  York  committee  for  the  prevention 
of  licensed  prostitution.  The  activity  of  this 
society  was  sufficient  to  prevent  the  passage  of 
any  such  law.4 

1  Supra,  p.  216.  a  Supra,  p.  109. 

3  This  presentment  will  be  found  in  the  New   York  Evening  Post 
of  June  2,  1876. 

4  An  interesting  account  of  the  attempts  made  to  legalise  prostitution 
in  St.  Louis,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  etc.,  at  this  period  will  be  found 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     233 

In  the  intervening  half  century,  up  to  1910, 
nothing  more  was  done  until  the  enactment  of 
the  Page  law.  Section  79  of  the  Page  law  provides 
for  the  compulsory  examination  of  prostitutes, 
and  their  detention  if  found  diseased,  thus  em- 
bodying some  of  the  chief  provisions  of  the  French 
system.1  The  law  went  into  operation  in  Septem- 

in  Wilson  and  Gledstone:  Report  of  a  Visit  to  the  United  States  as  Dele- 
gates from  the  General  Federation,  etc.  Sheffield,  1876.  See  also  Nevins, 
An  Address  to  Members  of  the  American  Legislature,  London,  1877. 
For  full  titles  see  the  Bibliography.  Cf.  also  the  appendix  to  Sanger's 
History  of  Prostitution,  new  ed.,  1906. 

1  The  full  text  of  Section  79  is  as  follows: 

"  SECTION  79.  Medical  Examination  of  Prostitutes.  On  and  after 
the  first  day  of  September,  nineteen  hundred  and  ten,  any  person  who 
is  a  vagrant,  as  defined  in  subdivision  four  of  section  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-seven  of  the  code  of  criminal  procedure,  or  who  is  convicted 
of  a  violation  of  subdivision  two  of  section  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  of  the  consolidation  act,  or  of  section  one  hundred  and  fifty  of 
the  tenement-house  law,  shall  after  conviction  be  taken  to  a  room 
adjacent  to  the  court  room,  and  there  be  physically  examined  by  a 
woman  physician  of  the  department  of  health  detailed  for  such  purpose. 
After  such  examination  the  physician  making  the  same  shall  promptly 
prepare  and  sign  a  written  report  to  the  Court  of  the  prisoner's  physical 
condition,  and  if  it  thereby  appears  that  the  prisoner  is  afflicted  with 
any  venereal  disease  which  is  contagious,  infectious,  or  communicable, 
the  magistrate  shall  commit  her  to  a  public  hospital  having  a  ward 
or  wards  for  the  treatment  of  the  disease  with  which  she  is  afflicted, 
for  detention  and  treatment  for  a  minimum  period  fixed  by  him  in 
the  commitment  and  for  a  maximum  period  of  not  more  than  one  year; 
provided,  that  in  case  a  prisoner  so  committed  to  any  institution  shall 
be  cured  of  her  venereal  disease,  which  is  contagious,  infectious,  or 
communicable,  after  the  expiration  of  the  minimum  period  and  before 
the  expiration  of  the  maximum  period  for  which  she  was  committed 
to  such  institution,  she  shall  be  discharged  and  released  from  custody 
upon  the  written  order  of  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  institution  to  which 
she  was  committed,  upon  the  certificate  of  a  physician  of  such  institution 
or  of  the  department  of  health  that  the  prisoner  is  free  of  any  venereal 


234  The  Social  Evil 

her,  1910,  and  at  once  gave  rise  to  a  spirited  protest. 
In  this  movement,  the  Society  for  Social  and 
Moral  Prophylaxis  took  a  prominent  part,  under 
the  able  leadership  of  its  president,  and  devoted 
several  sessions  to  the  discussion.1  It  was  at  one 
of  these  sessions  that  the  present  writer,  as  the 
former  secretary  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen,  de- 
livered an  address,  which  is  printed  in  the  appendix. 
Under  the  auspices  of  the  Women's  Prison 
Association  and  allied  societies,  a  mass  meeting 
of  protest  was  held  at  Cooper  Union  on  January 
19,  1911,  and  resolutions  were  adopted,  calling  on 
the  legislature  to  repeal  the  law,  and  upon  the 
board  of  health  to  establish  a  method  of  broad 
treatment  for  venereal  diseases.  In  the  meantime, 
a  suit  had  been  brought  to  test  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  law,  and  Justice  Bischoff  had  declared 
section  79  unconstitutional.  Pending  the  appeal, 
the  enforcement  of  the  clause  was  discontinued 
after  eighty-four  days  of  actual  life.  On  May  i, 
1911,  the  appellate  division  reversed  the  decision 

disease  which  is  contagious,  infectious,  or  communicable.  If,  however, 
such  prisoner  shall  be  cured  prior  to  the  expiration  of  the  minimum 
period  for  which  she  was  committed,  she  shall  be  forthwith  transferred 
to  the  workhouse  and  discharged  at  the  expiration  of  said  minimum 
period.  Nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  limit  the 
authority  of  a  city  magistrate  to  commit  any  prisoner  for  an  indeter- 
minate period  to  any  institution  now  having  authority  by  law  to  receive 
inmates  for  detention  for  a  period  of  more  than  one  year. 

1  See,  especially,  Social  Diseases,  October,  1910,  and  January, 
1911.  The  arguments  of  the  reglementists  were  marshalled  by  Dr. 
Bierhoff,  in  four  articles  in  the  Medical  Record  for  November  I2th 
and  December  3d,  1910,  and  March  isth  and  April  1st,  1911. 


.  A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     235 

of  Judge  Bischoff  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one;  but  on 
June  1 5th  of  the  same  year  the  court  of  appeals 
reversed  the  appellate  division  by  a  vote  of  six 
to  one,  declaring  clause  79  unconstitutional  on 
the  ground  that  the  nature  of  the  sentence  for 
conviction  was  made  to  depend  upon  the  report 
of  a  physical  examination,  without  an  opportunity 
for  a  hearing  upon  the  facts  entering  into  the 
report.  Thus  came  to  an  end,  probably  for  many 
years,  the  effort  to  introduce  by  law  into  any 
American  city  the  European  system  of  regie- 
mentation. 

At  about  the  same  time  as  the  passage  of  the 
Page  law  in  New  York,  the  subject  had  also  come 
to  a  head  in  Chicago.  The  Chicago  commission 
owed  its  origin  to  a  meeting  held  by  the  church 
federation,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1910. 
In  March  of  that  year,  the  mayor  appointed  a 
so-called  Vice  Commission  of  thirty  members, 
which  undertook  an  exhaustive  investigation 
into  the  whole  problem  of  the  social  evil  in  Chicago, 
and  which  brought  in  its  report  a  year  later.1 
The  report  is  comprehensive,  and  the  recom- 
mendations are  so  numerous  that  they  almost 
defy  condensation.  The  commission  found  that 
prostitution  in  Chicago  had  become  a  vast  com- 
mercialised business,  that  the  present  laws  were 

1  The  Social  Evil  in  Chicago:  A  Study  of  Existing  Conditions  with 
Recommendations  by  the  Vice  Commission  of  Chicago.  Chicago,  1911, 
399  PP- 


236  The  Social  Evil 

not  enforced,  and  that  there  was  a  lamentable 
ignorance  of  the  existing  conditions  on  the  part 
of  the  public.  The  body  of  the  report  contains 
a  disclosure  of  the  facts  as  they  were  found  to 
exist;  and  this  plain,  unvarnished,  sedulously 
calm  statement  of  the  situation  was  in  itself  suf- 
ficient to  arouse  and  to  startle  the  public.  The 
commission  unanimously  concluded  that  the 
continental  system  of  reglementation  was  not  to 
be  recommended.  "  One  has  but  to  read  scientific 
works  on  the  subject;  to  study  the  reports  of  in- 
ternational conferences  held  in  Europe,  and  to  hear 
the  reports  of  careful  investigators,  to  see  the  unreli- 
ability and  futility  of  such  a  system,  and  to  learn 
of  its  failure  as  a  permanent  institution  wherever  it 
has  been  undertaken  in  this  country  or  abroad." 
The  commission  did  not  close  their  eyes  to  the 
fundamental  facts.  "So  long  as  there  is  lust  in 
the  hearts  of  men,"  they  tell  us,  "it  will  seek  out 
some  method  of  expression.  Until  the  hearts  of 
men  are  changed,  we  cannot  hope  for  any  absolute 
annihilation  of  the  Social  Evil."  They  contend, 
however,  that  the  social  evil,  in  its  worst  phase, 
may  be  checked  if  only  the  public  conscience  can 
be  aroused.  "We  may  enact  laws;  we  may 
appoint  commissions;  we  may  abuse  civic  ad- 
ministrations for  their  handling  of  the  problem, 
but  the  problem  will  remain  just  as  long  as  the 
public  conscience  is  dead  to  the  issue,  or  is  indif- 
ferent to  its  solution." 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     237 

The  chief  recommendation  of  the  commission 
was  the  appointment  of  a  morals  commission  and 
the  establishment  of  a  morals  court.  From  among 
the  no  less  than  ninety-three  other  recommenda- 
tions, the  following  may  be  selected  as  the  most 
important: 

1.  The  establishment  of  a  federal  bureau  of 
immigration  at  Chicago  and  greater  control  of 
the  lake  steamers; 

2.  The  enactment  of  a  law  whereby  houses  of 
ill-fame  may  be  declared  public  nuisances ; 

3.  The  abandonment  of  fines  and  the  substi- 
tution of  imprisonment  or  the  probation  system; 

4.  A  supervision  of  the  employment  agencies; 

5.  A  stricter  enforcement  of  the  city  ordinances 
governing  the  saloons  and  dance  halls; 

6.  The   provision    of    more    ample    hospital 
facilities; 

7.  Better  statistics  as  to  the  extent  of  venereal 
diseases ; 

8.  A  comprehensive  system  of  education  in  sex; 

9.  A  better  control  of  the  parks  and   play- 
grounds ; 

10.  An  industrial  home  for  prostitutes; 

11.  The  separation  of    semi-delinquent  from 
delinquent  girls; 

12.  The  prohibition  of  women  without  male 
escorts  in  saloons; 

13.  More  homes  and  hotels  for  working  girls; 
and 


238  The  Social  Evil 

14.  A  curtailment  of  the  extreme  liberty  given 
by  parents  to  young  children. 

If  any  criticism  is  to  be  urged  against  the 
Chicago  report,  it  is  that  it  attempted  too  much. 
To  make  .ninety-five  recommendations,  with  any 
hope  of  having  them  adopted,  is  to  expect  more 
than  is  reasonable  from  human  nature.  Greater 
success  would  probably  have  been  achieved  if  the 
commission  had  contented  themselves  with  a  less 
ambitious  programme.  As  a  portrayal,  however, 
of  existing  conditions  in  a  large  city,  the  Chicago 
report  will  long  remain  unexcelled. 

At  the  end  of  the  same  year,  1910,  a  similar 
commission  was  appointed  in  Minneapolis,  and 
in  July,  1911,  its  report  was  issued.1  The  Min- 
neapolis commission  had,  naturally,  a  far  less 
difficult  work  to  perform  than  that  of  Chicago. 
Its  report  is,  however,  more  valuable  than  that 
of  the  Chicago  commission  in  several  respects :  it  is 
more  compact;  its  conclusions  are  presented  in 
better  form;  and  its  recommendations  are  based 
upon  a  comparative  survey  of  the  problem. 
Moreover,  the  report  does  not  contain  a  statement 
of  all  the  detailed  facts  upon  which  the  conclusions 
were  based.  The  commission  tell  us  that  the 
materials  upon  which  the  report  was  founded  would 
in  their  opinion  more  fittingly  adorn  a  safety- 
deposit  box  than  a  public  document.  The  Min- 

1  Report  of  the  Vice  Commission  of  Minneapolis  to  his  Honor,  James 
C.  Haynes.  Minneapolis,  1911,  I2mo,  134  pp. 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.    239 

neapolis  commission,  therefore,  contented  them- 
selves with  presenting  their  conclusions,  together 
with  the  chief  reasons  upon  which  the  recommen- 
dations were  founded. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that,  precisely  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen,1  the 
great  majority  of  the  Minneapolis  commission 
were,  at  the  outset,  in  favour  of  some  system  of 
regulation  or  segregation,  and  that  at  the  con- 
clusion of  this  study  they  came  unanimously  to 
the  opposite  opinion.  We  are  told  that,  "the 
chairman  himself  has  yielded  the  theory  which  he 
held  on  becoming  a  member  of  this  committee, 
to  the  overwhelming  mass  of  evidence  which  he 
discovered  against  it."  2  The  commission  report 
that  "legalising  and  licensing  prostitution  is  a 
method  foreign  to  the  sentiment  and  feelings 
of  the  American  people  and  repugnant  to  their 
high  moral  sense,"  and  they  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  system  has  actually  broken 
down  throughout  Europe.  With  reference  to 
segregation — which,  as  they  point  out,  contrary  to 
ordinary  opinion,  is  not  the  usual  practice  in 
Europe,  but  is  found  in  only  a  very  few  cities — the 
commission  maintain  that  segregation  does  not 
segregate,  and  that  it  complicates  rather  than 
simplifies  the  problem  for  the  police. 

The  chief  recommendations  of  the  commission 
are  the  policy  of  strict  law  enforcement  and  of 

1  See  below,  page  247.  *  Report,  p.  107. 


240  The  Social  Evil 

increased  police  vigilance  under  existing  ordinances. 
But  they  also  lay  stress  upon  remedial  and 
preventive  measures.  Among  these  are  more 
adequate  hospital  facilities,  and  improvements 
in  sex  education,  in  recreation  facilities,  in  economic 
conditions,  and  in  provision  for  institutional 
care.  They  approve,  finally,  a  recommendation 
for  a  permanent  commission  whose  immediate 
functions  shall  be  to  assist  in  carrying  out  the 
policy  of  suppressing  the  social  evil  and  of  attack- 
ing its  causes. 

Taking  them  together,  the  reports  of  the 
Chicago  and  Minneapolis  commissions  are  so 
exhaustive,  so  sensible,  and  so  stimulating  that  they 
may  well  serve  as  models  to  the  other  American 
cities.  That  they  agree  in  the  main  with  the 
conclusions  formulated  by  the  Committee  of 
Fifteen  in  1902,  recited  in  the  earlier  part  of  this 
book,  is  a  subject  of  no  little  congratulation. 

While  it  is  a  cheering  evidence  of  the  times 
that  expert  opinion  in  the  United  States,  like 
that  in  Europe,  is  tending  in  the  same  direction, 
actual  practice,  as  is  to  be  expected,  has  not  made 
the  same  progress.  The  conditions  of  police 
control  of  the  social  evil  in  the  American  cities 
at  present  vary  widely,  and  in  but  few  of  them 
has  the  modern  or  constructive  point  of  view 
been  adopted.  A  recent  census  of  seventy-two 
of  the  leading  cities  in  this  country  has  disclosed 
the  fact  that  while  there  is  no  legal  licensing  of 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     241 

prostitution  in  any  of  the  cities,  it  exists,  in  fact, 
in  two,  namely  Atlantic  City  and  Cheyenne.1 
In  those  two  cities  there  is  segregation  of  prosti- 
tution, medical  examination,  and  a  system  of  fines 
for  houses  of  ill-fame  and  their  inmates.  In 
thirty-two  of  the  cities,  the  police  declare  there 
is  a  system  of  regulation,  by  which  fact,  however, 
is  simply  meant  that  the  police  take  an  active 
part  in  dealing  with  the  problem.  In  thirty-three 
of  the  cities  the  policy  of  segregation  is  followed, 
while  in  most  of  the  others  that  policy  has  been 
abandoned  as  unsuccessful.  In  this  respect, the  re- 
cent experience  of  Winnipeg,  Canada,  is  noteworthy. 
An  earlier  experiment  had  failed  and  had  been  aban- 
doned. In  1909,  the  scheme  was  again  introduced, 
but  we  are  told  that  "the  grave  abuses,  the  flaunt- 
ing of  vice,  the  demoralising  influence  on  childhood 
and  youth,  the  exhibitions  of  obscenity  and  besti- 
ality "  led  to  such  an  outbreak  of  public  criticism 
as  to  result  in  the  appointment  of  a  commission  and 
the  final  abandonment  of  the  whole  policy. 

Interesting  in  this  respect  also,  as  indicating  the 
trend  of  American  legislation,  is  the  passage  in 
1909  of  the  " Injunction  and  Abatement  Law"  in 
Iowa.  This  is  definitely  opposed  to  the  policy  of 
segregation,  and  declares  a  house  of  ill-fame  to  be 
a  public  nuisance. 

1  A  circular  containing  eleven  questions  was  sent  by  the  National 
Vigilance  Committee  to  seventy-two  cities,  and  the  answers  are  given 
in  detail  in  Vigilance  for  May,  1911. 
16 


242  The  Social  Evil 

r 

The  director  of  the  department  of  public  safety 
in  Des  Moines  has  recently  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  success  of  the  law  has  been  such  as 
to  convert  those  who  had  previously  upheld  the 
policy  of  segregation.  A  similar  law  is  now  in 
force  in  Nebraska. 

It  is  unfortunately  true  that  the  heads  of 
police  not  infrequently  proclaim  segregation  as  a 
panacea.  Even  so  admirable  a  man  as  the  late 
head  of  the  police  force  of  New  York  has  advanced 
this  idea.1  Such  a  position,  however,  is  not  only 
indefensible  in  the  light  of  both  American  and 
European  experience,  but  is  abandoned  by  the  most 
discerning  police  officials  themselves.  In  a  recent 
interesting  document  issued  by  the  police  com- 
missioner of  Boston,  Mr.  Stephen  O'Meara,  we 
find,  for  instance,  the  following  passage 2 : 

"Total  extinction  of  public  and  semi-public 
sexual  immorality  in  a  city  of  the  size  of  Boston 
cannot  be  hoped  for,  can  hardly  be  imagined; 
but  effectual  restraint  can  be  applied.  I  do  not 
mean  restraint  by  license,  as  practised  in  the  cities 
of  other  continents  the  world  over,  and  as  tried 
at  times  in  this  country;  and  neither  do  I  mean 
the  restraint  common  to  almost  all  cities  of  the 

1  The  Girl  that  Disappears,  by  Theodore  A.  Bingham,  New  York,  1911. 

3  Police  Department  of  the  City  of  Boston:  A  Record  of  the  Enforcement 
of  the  Laws  against  Sexual  Immorality  since  December  i,  1909,  as  contained 
in  the  Information  relating  thereto  embodied  in  the  Reports  to  the  Governor 
of  Massachusetts,  made  annually  by  the  Police  Commissioner  of  the  City 
of  Boston.  Boston,  n.  d.  (1911),  50  pp. 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     243 

United  States  with  populations  large  enough  to 
raise  the  question — the  restraint  which  attempts 
to  confine  vice  to  particular  localities,  which  says 
to  brothel  keepers  that  within  territories  bounded 
by  certain  streets  they  may  carry  on  their  business 
untroubled,  or  at  worst  with  no  greater  incon- 
venience than  a  fine  imposed  with  such  regularity 
and  moderation  as  to  become  practically  a  license 
fee;  which  guarantees  prostitutes  in  houses  or 
out  of  doors  within  designated  sections  against 
the  danger  of  prosecution ;  which  assures  licentious 
men  that  for  breaches  of  the  law  committed 
within  certain  territorial  limits  there  is  neither 
punishment  nor  exposure. 

"Restraint  by  license  is  a  surrender  to  vice 
under  authority  of  law;  restraint  by  segregation 
is  a  compromise  with  vice,  illegally  made,  and  a 
nullification  of  laws  by  public  officers  appointed 
to  enforce  them.  Either  license  or  segregation 
condemns  whole  neighbourhoods,  in  which  the 
vicious  are  but  a  minority,  to  the  common  brand 
of  infamy,  and  fails,  nevertheless,  to  save  other 
neighbourhoods  from  incursions  of  vice. 

"When  I  speak  of  restraint,  therefore,  I  mean 
the  restraint  which  is  founded  on  the  effective  laws, 
the  vigilant  performance  of  police  duty,  and  that 
responsive  action  by  courts  and  juries  without 
which  both  laws  and  police  are  powerless." 

After  giving  a  detailed  account  of  what  the 
department  has  been  attempting  to  accomplish, 


244  The  Social  Evil 

the  police  commissioner  closes  with  a  paragraph 
which  shows  with  remarkable  clearness  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  problem: 

"The  Police  Department  regards  the  business 
of  vice  as  a  social  tragedy,  which  has  gone  on  from 
the  beginning  and  presumably  will  go  on  to  the 
end;  but  police  action  against  it  is  confined,  of 
necessity,  to  the  attempted  enforcement  of  the 
laws.  The  police  have  no  other  mission  or  author- 
ity. But  the  efforts  to  reduce  the  profits  of  the 
business,  to  secure  the  adequate  punishment  of 
those  who  engage  in  it  and  thus  check  its  growth, 
have  met  with  practically  no  helpful  or  appreciative 
response  from  any  direction.  If  a  future  police 
commissioner  were  intending  to  pursue  the  same 
course  with  respect  to  the  business  of  vice  that  has 
been  followed  for  four  years.  I  should  advise  him 
that  he  might  expect  loyal  support  from  the 
police  when  once  he  has  convinced  them  that  he 
was  in  earnest;  little  encouragement  from  courts; 
bitter  hostility  from  persons  whose  profits  were 
curtailed;  indifference  from  the  public;  and  from 
a  few  enthusiasts  in  the  cause  of  social  purity 
whose  admirable  purposes  are  not  sustained  by 
straight  and  intelligent  thinking,  he  would  be  sure 
to  receive  some  measure  of  abusive  criticism.  I 
should  advise  him  that  unless  he  held  his  oath 
of  office  in  high  regard,  and  cared  for  no  reward 
other  than  the  consciousness  that  he  had  done 
his  duty  faithfully,  and  with  some  benefit  to  the 


A  Decade's  Development  in  U.  S.     245 

community,  it  would  be  better  for  him  personally 
that  he  should  follow  the  easy  road  of  indifference, 
which  is  always  chosen  by  those  who  are  officially 
blind." < 

It  is  the  public  indifference,  referred  to  by  the 
police  commissioner,  that  is  really  at  the  root  of 
the  problem.  The  secret  of  all  the  efforts  that  have 
been  recounted  in  the  preceding  pages  is  to  over- 
come and  to  break  down  this  public  indifference. 
With  publicity,  with  awakening  interest,  and  with 
the  determination  to  do  what  is  at  once  right  and 
practicable,  the  first  steps  in  the  solution  of  the 
problem  will  have  been  taken.  At  no  time  in 
the  history  of  the  world  has  the  outlook  for  such 
progress  been  so  bright  as  it  is  at  present. 

1 A  Record,  etc.,  pp.  49-50. 


APPENDIX 

THE  SANITARY  SUPERVISION  OF  PROSTITUTION.      AN  ADDRESS 
ON  SECTION  79  OF  THE  PAGE  LAW  x 

WHEN  your  President  asked  me  to  appear  before  this 
Society,  I  told  him  that  I  should  not  have  time  to  prepare 
a  set  paper,  but  that,  as  the  result  of  my  efforts  in  connection 
with  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  some  years  ago,  I  had  formed 
certain  opinions  which  reflection  has  confirmed,  and  that 
I  should  be  glad  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject  to-night. 

As  I  take  it,  in  such  a  question  as  this,  where  good  men 
differ  so  fundamentally — and  good  women  too — it  is 
perhaps  wise  to  approach  the  subject  from  a  somewhat 
broader  point  of  view.  Some  who  are  in  favour  of  section 
79  of  the  Page  law  support  it  frankly  and  avowedly  as 
the  first  step — as  an  entering  wedge  to  some  system  of 
reglementation.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  gentleman 
who  addressed  the  Society  at  its  last  meeting,  Dr.  Bierhoff, 
quite  openly  stated  that  this  was  his  opinion.  On  the 
other  hand,  others  like  Mr.  Homer  Folks,  and  perhaps  Mr. 
Mayer,  desire  to  draw  a  sharp  line  between  reglementation 
or  regulation  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Page  law  on  the 
other.  In  the  first  part  of  my  remarks,  therefore,  I  shall 
address  myself  to  those  who  in  one  way  or  another  favour 
reglementation;  and,  secondly,  I  shall  speak  to  those  who, 
while  theoretically  opposed  to  regulation,  are  nevertheless 
in  favour  of  the  Page  law. 

'This  address  was  delivered  by  the  author  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  on  December  22,  1910. 

246 


Sanitary  Supervision  247 

This  is  not  the  place  to  call  your  attention  to  the  historical 
aspects  of  the  subject.  There  is  only  one  point  I  should  like 
to  emphasise,  as  leading  up  to  the  position  which  I  take — 
and,  I  may  say  in  this  respect,  it  is  the  position  which,  so 
far  as  I  know,  is  taken  to-day  by  all  the  surviving  members 
of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
that  when  we  came  together  to  investigate  the  problem, 
knowing  very  little  about  it — just  about  as  much  or  as 
little  as  does  the  ordinary  man  or  woman, — the  great 
majority  of  us  were  in  favour  of  regulation  on  the  principle 
that  it  could  do  no  harm  and  might  do  some  good.  It 
was  only  after  a  prolonged  study  of  the  situation  as  regards 
both  the  facts  and  the  general  principles  involved,  that 
the  committee  came  unanimously  to  the  conclusion 
that  regulation  or  reglementation  was  inadvisable  and 
inadmissible.  Let  me  then  devote  a  few  remarks  to  an 
endeavour  to  point  out  why  we  came  to  that  conclusion; 
for  the  arguments  that  held  then  would  hold  with  most  of 
us  to-day. 

The  method  used  in  ancient  times  in  dealing  with  this 
subject  was  to  regard  it  from  the  religious,  or  political, 
or  even  the  fiscal  point  of  view.  We  all  know  that  prosti- 
tution was  subject  to  various  forms  of  regulation  in  Greek 
and  Roman  times,  and  that  it  was  made  subservient  to 
the  political  ends  just  as  was  the  marriage  relation  itself; 
and  we  know,  furthermore,  that  the  government  in  many 
cases  secured  large  revenues  from  the  quasi-religious 
organisations  under  whose  asgis  these  practices  were  carried 
on.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  situation  was  entirely  different. 
Partly  as  a  result  of  the  Christian  doctrine,  but  chiefly 
under  the  influence  of  the  newer  civilisation  of  Germanic 
type  as  against  the  old  Romanic  type,  an  effort  was  made 
to  repress  this  hideous  evil  as  far  as  possible.  It  is  only 
with  the  spread  of  commerce  and  industry  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  that  we  find  in  the  various  Italian, 


248  Appendix 

German,  and  French  towns  a  different  attitude  taken  to  it. 
It  was  then  that  the  importance  of  the  earlier  religious 
objections  diminished,  and  these  unfortunate  women  were 
formed  into  guilds,  very  much  like  the  other  classes  of 
artisans  and  craftsmen  in  those  days,  whose  organisations 
were  made  to  minister  to  the  fancied  ends  of  the  communal 
welfare.  Only  the  other  day  I  was  reading  in  a  work  on 
Japan  that,  in  one  of  the  inland  towns,  they  have  every 
five  years  a  great  civic  procession,  headed  by  all  the  loose 
women  of  the  town  garbed  in  beautiful  costumes,  and 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  goes  out  to  see  the  spectacle. 
How  many  realise  that  this  was  an  early  quasi-religious 
custom  throughout  Europe?  It  was  a  feudal  idea  which 
gave  rise  to  this  custom  in  Europe,  just  as  it  is  a  survival 
of  feudalism  which  explains  its  continuance  in  Japan  to-day. 
It  does  not  argue  that  the  Japanese  are  less  good  or  less 
wise  than  we,  but  simply  that  they  still  have  survivals  of 
a  feudal  civilisation  which  with  us  has  passed  away.  In 
so  far  as  any  effort  was  made  by  mediaeval  governments 
to  regulate  the  institution,  it  was  chiefly  to  maintain  public 
order.  Only  after  the  outbreak  of  the  syphilitic  scourge 
in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  throughout 
all  the  European  countries  was  a  different  attitude 
assumed. 

In  modern  times,  however,  has  come  the  evolution  of 
the  true  democratic  and  social  way  of  regarding  the  pro- 
blem; and  the  modern  way  of  looking  at  the  problem  differs 
from  the  mediaeval  in  three  respects: 

First,  in  former  times  the  loose  women  were  treated  as 
outcasts  and  aliens  and  they  were  compelled  to  wear  a 
different  garb  or  costume.  Now,  with  the  economic 
development  of  modern  times,  we  have  gotten  over  the 
idea  of  the  alien  character  of  these  women,  and  with  the 
growth  of  the  democratic  spirit  we  feel  that  they  are  with 
us  and  of  us.  They  may  form  a  separate  class,  indeed, 


Sanitary  Supervision  249 

we  may  pity  them  or  hold  them  in  contempt,  but  in  the 
larger  sense  they  are  a  part  of  us. 

The  second  distinction  is  the  emergence  of  the  ethical 
or  moral  ideal.  This  had  never — or  almost  never — been 
realised  before.  Nowadays  every  one  feels  that  whatever 
may  be  the  method  of  dealing  with  these  unfortunates, 
any  scheme  which  has  not  directly  or  indirectly,  purposely 
or  incidentally,  a  moral  connotation,  is  bound  to  fail. 

Third,  above  all,  with  the  growth  of  modern  medicine 
and  modern  science,  we  have  learned  to  emphasise  the 
sanitary  aspect  of  the  problem.  In  fact,  this  is  the  one 
which  really  confronts  us  at  present.  By  regulation  in 
modern  times,  we  mean  sanitary  regulation,  and  this 
brings  us  to  the  objections  to  the  system  of  reglementation 
as  a  whole.  These  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  always  a  conflict  between 
sanitary  and  moral  ends.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
sanitary  precautions  may  not  go  hand  in  hand  with  ethical 
ends,  and  that  certain  moral  ends  may  not  also  involve 
sanitary  precautions;  but  in  these  points  of  contact  there 
is  apt  to  be  far  less  of  harmony  than  of  conflict.  We  find 
a  difference  of  opinion,  for  instance,  between  the  doctors' 
point  of  view  and  that  of  the  police.  This  has  been  brought 
out  fully  in  the  history  of  the  Parisian,  the  Viennese,  and 
the  German  systems;  and  you  all  see,  of  course,  why  it 
should  be  so.  The  sanitary  point  of  view  does  not  look 
at  all  to  the  chances  of  reformation.  The  moral  point 
of  view  always  holds  up,  as  an  ideal,  at  least,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  reformation — that  those  women  who  really  are 
unfortunate  rather  than  perverted,  those  who  are,  if  you 
will,  occasional  rather  that  professional  prostitutes,  and 
who  wish  to  reform,  may  have  a  chance  to  do  so.  It  is 
because  of  this  conflict  between  the  ethical  and  the  sanitary 
purposes  of  regulation  that  we  find  such  an  opposition 
between  those  who  look  at  it  only  from  the  sanitary  point 


250  Appendix 

of  view,  and  those  who  regard  it  from  the  larger  and  more 
social  point  of  view.  Sanitary  regulation  may  tend,  and 
has  frequently  tended,  to  convert  a  woman  from  a  temporary 
into  a  permanent  prostitute. 

Second,  regulation  is  apt  to  strengthen  the  belief  that 
it  is  for  ever  inevitable,  and  that,  in  so  far  as  it  responds 
to  a  general  need,  prostitution  is  something  not  only  in- 
evitable but  beneficial.  That  is  a  point  upon  which  the 
physician  can  speak  more  authoritatively  than  those  who 
look  at  it  from  the  moral,  economic,  or  ethical  point  of  view. 
Not  a  few  physicians,  however,  take  issue  with  the  older 
doctrine  which  believes  in  the  imperative  necessity  of 
sexual  intercourse  for  the  young  man.  To  the  extent 
that  a  system  of  reglementation  impliedly  recognises  this 
function  of  prostitution,  it  runs  counter  to  the  newer 
doctrine. 

•Third,  every  system  of  reglementation  tends  to  make 
men  believe  that  they  may  indulge  in  these  practices  with 
comparative  safety.  Anything  that  tends  to  render  vice 
innocuous  tends  to  incite  to  debauch.  To  the  extent  that 
the  state  whitewashes  the  situation — and  it  can  scarcely 
fail  to  do  so  when  it  officially  regulates  the  practice, — to 
that  extent  it  tends  to  augment  the  increase  of  the  demand 
itself.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  many  who  would  perhaps 
otherwise  be  lukewarm,  or  disinclined  to  take  any  definite 
attitude  on  the  subject,  are  disposed  to  oppose  the 
system. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  system  of  reglementation, 
especially  in  the  Romance  countries,  shows  that  regulation 
is  scarcely  of«*any  use  at  all,  unless  it  tolerates  and  even 
favours  the  houses  of  ill-fame.  You  cannot  get  at  the 
clandestine  prostitute;  you  can,  to  a  certain  extent,  reach 
the  houses  of  ill-fame.  Consequently,  in  the  very  country 
which  has  done  the  most  in  this  direction,  we  find  that  the 
indirect  result  of  the  system  is  to  encourage  such  houses, 


Sanitary  Supervision  251 

because  it  enables  the  police  to  regulate  with  a  little  more 
success.  Not  alone  does  it  encourage  houses  of  ill-fame, 
but  it  has  also  tended — in  these  Romance  countries,  at 
all  events — to  increase  the  subordinate  and  ancillary 
features — the  dance-houses,  the  giving  .of  liquor  in  the 
brothels,  etc.,  making  them  veritable  palaces  of  delight, 
as  they  have  been  called. 

In  the  fifth  place,  the  chief  objection  to  regulation  is 
that  the  state  cannot  regulate  anything  without  recognising 
it;  and  that  the  state  in  modern  times  has  no  business  to 
lend  its  active  support  to  prostitution  through  recognition. 
In  modern  times,  for  instance,  we  have  no  state  lotteries. 
Whereas  in  years  past  churches  and  other  laudable 
institutions  were  built  and  aided  by  lotteries — Columbia 
University,  for  instance,  was  started  by  a  lottery, — in 
modern  times  the  state  no  longer  lends  its  support  to 
lotteries.  At  least,  our  own  country,  as  well  as  most 
other  civilised  countries — with  the  surprising  exception 
of  some  of  the  German  states, — has  abandoned  state 
lotteries  altogether.  In  the  same  way,  we  in  America 
and  other  English-speaking  countries  believe  that  by 
legalising  vice  the  state  identifies  itself  more  or  less  with 
immorality,  and  that  by  helping  to  maintain  a  class  of 
such  unfortunate  women  the  state  tends  to  outrage  the 
decent  element  of  society,  and  discriminates  between  men 
and  women  offenders.  I  can  but  sympathise  with  those 
women  who  maintain  that  this  is,  to  that  extent,  an  insult 
to  womankind. 

Finally,  we  do  not  believe  in  reglementation,  because 
regulation  does  not  regulate.  ,  Even  in  those  countries 
where  they  have  regulation,  the  most  recent  opinion, 
even  among  its  advocates,  is  that  if  it  does  any  good  at 
all,  it  accomplishes  so  little  as  to  be  negligible;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  is  an  increasing  number  of  scientific 
men  in  France,  Germany,  Holland,  and  other  countries  on 


252  Appendix 

the  continent  who  are  assuming  an  attitude  of  dissent 
and  opposition. 

We  need,  therefore,  not  spend  any  more  time  on  the 
problem  of  reglementation  as  such.  It  may  appeal  to  certain 
of  the  European  countries,  which  are  accustomed  to  the 
continual  interference  of  government  in  the  smallest  and 
most  detailed  affairs  of  daily  life;  but  it  may  safely  be 
affirmed  that  reglementation  as  such  will  not  appeal  to 
the  American  public. 

Let  us  come,  then,  to  the  Page  law.  Some  say:  It  is 
not  regulation;  we  don't  want  regulation,  but  we  favour 
the  Page  law  because  it  is  simply  an  attempt  to  protect 
the  community  from  a  sanitary  point  of  view — not  to 
regulate  the  traffic.  As  regards  this  point,  I  must  say 
that  after  reading  the  colloquy  between  our  respected 
chairman  and  Mr.  Folks,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  distinc- 
tions Mr.  Folks  makes  between  the  Page  law  and  the 
French  system  of  reglementation  are  exceedingly  tenuous. 
I  think  Dr.  Morrow  is  quite  right  in  saying  that  it  is  a 
distinction  without  a  difference.  Mr.  Folks  makes  a 
great  deal  of  the  point  that  in  the  one  case  we  deal  only 
with  vagrants,  with  criminals,  whereas,  in  France,  they 
deal  with  any  person  found  walking  the  streets.  But  is 
that  really  a  distinction?  Is  not  every  one  who  is  found 
walking  the  streets  in  this  city  to-day  considered  a  vagrant? 
Is  there  really  any  distinction  between  the  details  of  the 
French  system  and  those  of  the  Page  law,  so  far  as  that 
is  concerned?  I  fail  to  see  it. 

Secondly,  it  may  be  said — and  that  is  an  opinion  that 
deserves  respectful  consideration — that  the  Page  law  is 
a  measure  of  beneficence  in  that  it  provides  humane 
treatment  for  the  unfortunate  women  who  happen  to  be 
diseased.  Here,  however,  we  must  remember  that  the 
number  who  are  affected  by  the  Page  law  are  so  few,  so 
infinitesimal — perhaps  a  few  dozen  or  a  few  hundreds,  as 


Sanitary  Supervision  253 

compared  with  the  tens  of  thousands  of  prostitutes  in  the 
city — as  to  be  negligible.  De  minimis  non  curat  lex. 
But  even  conceding  that  we  do  deal  with  a  large  number, 
is  it  necessary  to  have  a  law  so  degrading  and  humiliating 
as  the  Page  law  in  order  to  give  these  unfortunate  women 
the  benefits  of  medical  treatment?  No  one  would  object 
to  an  increase  in  our  facilities  for  treatment,  hospital, 
reformatory,  or  otherwise,  designed  to  give  these  women  a 
chance  to  regain  their  health.  But  to  say  that  we  need 
the  Page  law  with  its  system  of  finger-print  identification, 
and  its  degrading  and  compulsory  examination  in  the  police 
court  in  order  to  effect  that  result,  is  a  very  different 
matter.  The  end  may  be  desirable,  but  the  particular 
methods  employed  to  reach  that  end  are,  in  my  opinion, 
exceedingly  undesirable. 

In  the  third  place,  the  Page  law  makes  use  of  the 
ordinary  policeman  and  the  ordinary  police  court.  Now, 
if  there  is  one  thing  on  which  most  scientists  and  experts 
who  have  dealt  with  the  problem  abroad  agree,  it  is  that 
of  all  the  people  in  the  world  the  most  unsuitable  to 
administer  such  a  system  are  the  ordinary  police  and  the 
ordinary  police  court.  For  that  reason,  France,  which 
has  led  the  way  in  this  respect,  has  a  separate  body  known 
as  the  police  des  mazurs,  quite  distinct  from  the  ordinary 
police  and  not  subject  by  any  means  to  the  same  temptations 
and  weaknesses.  Even  assuming  that  everything  else 
about  the  Page  law  was  good,  this  one  fact  would,  in  my 
opinion,  be  sufficient  to  convict  it. 

Fourthly,  the  Page  law,  as  I  take  it,  seeks  to  achieve  one 
end  and  yet  confuses  it  with  another.  Its  object  is  sanitary 
control ;  it  desires,  to  a  certain  extent,  reformation ;  and  it 
attempts  to  accomplish  these  things  by  punishment.  The 
confusion  between  the  punitive  and  the  reformatory  ideas 
is  a  gross  one.  While  one  may  sometimes  kill  two  birds 
with  one  stone,  you  generally  have  to  choose  between  them. 


254  Appendix 

And  in  this  case  a  choice  is  necessary.  The  kind  of 
punishment  meted  out  by  the  Page  law  is  not  calculated 
to  reform. 

We  come  now  to  the  principal  indictment  against  the 
law.  I  should  say  that  the  chief  aim  of  the  Page  law, 
which  is  to  protect  the  health  of  the  community — and  let 
us  frankly  confess  it:  primarily,  the  health  of  the  patrons, 
the  health  of  the  male  sex, — is  not  attained  and  cannot  be 
attained,  because  the  sanitary  protection  turns  out  to  be 
illusory.  It  is  here,  perhaps,  that  I  may  venture  to  speak 
with  a  little  more  assurance  than  in  those  other  domains 
which  are  those  of  the  expert  physician  or  even  the  soci- 
ologist. For  it  is  here  that  certain  economic  considerations 
come  into  play.  After  all,  we  are  dealing  here  with  services 
which  have  a  price,  and  like  everything  else  which  has  a 
price  it  is  an  economic  problem.  It  has,  of  course,  its 
sanitary,  moral,  and  social  aspects,  but  none  the  less  there 
is  a  decided  economic  aspect  to  it.  Now  when  we  say  that 
it  is  regulated  by  demand  and  supply  we  don't  say  much 
about  it,  for  the  province  of  the  economist  is  to  study  in  de- 
tail the  forces  which  affect  demand  and  supply.  Mr.  Folks 
— so  far  as  I  can  learn  from  the  report  of  the  last  session  of 
the  Society — says  that  it  is  a  simple  arithmetical  problem : 
that  if  you  take  away  a  certain  number,  the  total  will  be 
less  than  before. 

I  should  say  yes ;  if  you  have  a  lake  of  water  and  you  take 
out  a  bucketful,  of  course,  arithmetically,  there  is  less  water 
in  the  lake  than  before :  but  practically  is  there  not  the  same 
amount  as  before?  Removing  ten  or  twenty  or  a  hundred 
from  the  tens  of  thousands  of  these  unfortunates  is  so 
insignificant  that  you  may  virtually  disregard  it.  But 
even  if  we  grant  that  you  do  remove  a  large  number  of 
women  in  this  way  through  the  Page  law,  what  would  be 
the  result?  If  there  is  one  thing  definitely  fixed  in  economic 
science,  it  is  that  when  you  are  dealing  with  reproducible 


Sanitary  Supervision  255 

goods,  things  manufactured  at  practically  the  same  cost, 
the  chief  point  is  not  the  supply  but  the  demand;  i.  e., 
the  supply  always  adjusts  itself  to  the  demand.  When  you 
do  nothing  to  affect  the  demand,  and  when  you  affect  the 
supply  only  at  one  end,  you  are  really  not  changing  the 
situation.  Take  a  mill-race  with  the  water  running  in 
at  one  end  and  going  out  at  the  other.  If  you  take  water 
out  of  the  lower  end  but  do  not  change  the  inflow — the 
upper  end — the  level  remains  the  same.  The  Page  law 
at  best  takes  out  some  of  the  supply  at  the  lower  end, 
but  that  does  not  prevent  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
supply  at  the  upper  end ;  and  as  long  as  you  do  not  change 
the  total  supply  the  situation  remains  the  same.  In 
other  words,  the  supply  of  these  unfortunate  women  on 
the  streets  will  be  made  good  from  other  sources.  I  concede 
that  if  you  were  to  stop  the  water  at  the  upper  end  you 
might  do  some  good ;  but  I  am  not  sure  how  much,  because 
there  is  another  accepted  economic  principle:  i.  e.,  that  by 
diminishing  the  supply  you  do  not  diminish  the  demand 
unless  the  point  of  saturation  has  been  reached.  Suppose 
that  you  have  a  large  number  of  liquor  saloons,  and  that 
you  dimmish  the  number  by  a  tenth  or  a  quarter.  Are 
you  checking  the  supply?  Will  not  the  only  result  be 
that  you  will  increase  the  patronage  of  the  remaining  liquor 
saloons?  It  is  not  until  the  saloons  become  uncomfortably 
crowded  that  the  patrons  would  be  tempted  to  go  some- 
where else,  and  then,  indeed,  if  there  were  nowhere  else 
to  go  to,  the  effect  would  be  felt.  Therefore,  even  the 
diminution  of  the  supply  through  a  police  regulation  which 
would  prevent  street-walking,  would  attain  the  desired 
result  only  if  it  brought  about  a  decided  diminution  in 
numbers. 

The  Page  law,  however,  not  only  fails  to  affect  the  supply 
at  all,  leaving  the  demand  as  before — but  it  affects  the 
demand  the  wrong  way.  The  only  way  in  which  supply 


256  Appendix 

can  affect  demand  is  through  a  change  in  the  quantity  or 
quality  of  the  supply.  The  quantity  of  the  supply  now 
is,  as  we  have  just  seen,  not  changed  by  the  Page  law, 
but  the  quality  is  changed.  To  the  extent  that  people 
will  get  the  idea  that  the  street-walkers  are  not  diseased 
either  after  they  have  been  treated  or  when  they  have  been 
discharged  as  not  in  need  of  treatment,  the  imagined 
improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  services  offered  for  sale 
will  tend  to  attract  purchasers  who  would  otherwise  be 
somewhat  suspicious  or  on  their  guard.  It  will  tend,  in 
other  words,  to  augment  the  demand.  At  all  events,  it 
is  reasonably  sure  that  as  an  economic  proposition  the 
Page  law  is  illusory,  in  so  far  as  concerns  the  hope  that 
it  would  bring  about  a  decided  diminution  in  prostitution. 
But,  finally,  if  I  do  not  believe  in  regulation  and  if  I 
do  not  believe  in  the  Page  law,  in  what  do  I  believe?  I 
think  that  that  is  a  fair  question.  Every  one  has  a  right 
to  object  to  a  man  or  a  woman  who  says  "Hands  off"; 
or,  like  the  ostrich,  puts  his  head  in  the  sand  and  says: 
"Don't  let  us  talk  about  it,  it  does  not  exist."  The 
way  to  deal  with  the  problem  is  to  influence  both  sup- 
ply and  demand.  You  can  affect  the  supply  in  several 
ways.  One  of  these  is  to  secure  the  introduction  of  general 
economic  and  social  measures  which  tend  to  raise  the  whole 
plane  of  the  standard  of  life.  For  the  problem  is,  nowadays, 
primarily  a  social  and  economic  one.  It  is,  in  large  measure, 
the  problem  not  of  the  moral  pervert  but  of  the  woman  who 
has  not  enough  to  live  on  and  who,  therefore,  takes  to 
this  practice  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  You  can  affect 
the  supply  by  doing  what  is  needful  in  connection  with 
the  white-slave  traffic.  Furthermore,  you  can  change  the 
character  as  well  as  the  quantity  of  the  supply.  You  can 
accomplish  this  by  regulating  and  improving  the  dance 
halls  and  the  Raines-Law  hotels,  and  by  checking  the 
other  things  that  tend  to  convert  the  occasional  into 


Sanitary  Supervision  257 

the  professional  prostitute.  On  the  other  hand,  you  can 
affect  the  demand  in  many  ways,  some  of  which  have  been 
emphasised  so  magnificently  by  this  society  under  whose 
auspices  we  are  meeting  to-night.  You  can  affect  the 
demand  by  proper  education;  you  can  provide  the  oppor- 
tunity of  securing  knowledge,  and  do  much  to  make  the 
situation  very  different  from  what  it  is  to-day.  You  can 
change  the  demand  by  requiring  a  license  of  good  health 
and  freedom  from  these  diseases  before  marriage — a  by 
no  means  impracticable  or  visionary  scheme,  and  one  the 
necessity  of  which  is  already  beginning  to  be  recognised 
in  some  of  our  states.  You  can  alter  both  demand  and 
supply  in  many  other  ways  which  it  is  not  my  province 
to  point  out,  for  it  has  been  a  critical  rather  than  a  con- 
structive thought  which  I  wish  to  present  to-night. 

The  great  trouble  with  all  our  efforts  has  been  the  lack 
of  continuity  of  effort.  The  Committee  of  Fifteen  did 
what  it  could,  but  the  community  soon  lapsed  from  the 
stage  of  enthusiasm  and  high  moral  force;  the  flame  which 
burned  so  brilliantly  for  a  time  died  out — and  so  it  is  with 
most  of  our  efforts  at  reform.  This  society  takes  up  one 
phase  of  the  subject — only  one  little  phase,  and  yet  in 
itself  large  enough,  for  without  this  society  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  speak  to  you  to-night  as  I  have  done. 
To  have  accomplished  merely  the  possibility  of  a  free 
discussion  of  such  subjects  is  no  mean  result. 

I  want  to  plead  for  an  organisation  which  will  remain 
constantly  in  operation,  which  will  study  these  questions, 
which  will  not  take  a  mere  snap-shot  at  them,  as  did  those 
worthy  gentlemen  who  enacted  this  particular  provision 
of  the  Page  law,  but  which  will  study  the  whole  problem 
from  the  medical  standpoint,  the  social  standpoint,  the 
economic  standpoint,  and  the  moral  standpoint ;  and  which 
will  not  alone  prepare  legislation,  but  will  help  the  govern- 
ment in  administering  whatever  laws  or  ordinances  may  be 
17 


258  Appendix 

found  to  be  desirable.  If  the  result  of  a  discussion  like 
this  is  to  bring  into  existence  an  organisation  of  permanent 
character  which  will  create  and  maintain  a  continuity  of 
effort,  we  may  look  forward  to  the  time  not  indeed  when 
we  can  extirpate  prostitution — for  that  will  not  come  very 
easily  nor  very  quickly;  not  to  the  time  when  we  can 
discover  a  panacea  for  the  trouble;  but  to  the  time  when, 
even  if  we  shall  not  be  able  to  attack  the  evil  in  front, 
we  may  be  able  to  effect  a  breach  in  the  side,  which  will 
gradually  but  surely  expose  and  lay  bare  more  and  more 
of  the  hideous  enemy  which  constitutes,  perhaps,  the  worst 
of  our  modern  evils. 


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Rapport  General  sur  les  Travaux  de  la  Commission  Extraparlementaire 

du  Regime  des  Mceurs.        Present^  par  M.   F.  Hennequin,  sous- 

Directeur  au  Ministers    de   1'Inte'rieur;  Secre'taire-Ge'ne'ral    de  la 

Commission.     Melun,  Imprimerie  Administrative,  1908. 
Federation    Abolitionniste  Internationale.     Dixieme   Congres  tenu   a 

Geneve,  Septembre,  1908,  Compte  Rendu  des  travaux.     Geneve,  1909. 
La  Repression  de  la  Traite  des  Blanches.     Rapport  officiel  de  la  Con- 
ference Internationale,  tenue  les  5,  6,  et  7  Octobre,  1909.     Vienne, 

1909. 
La  Repression  de  la  Traite  des  Blanches.     Conference  Internationale 

Octobre,  1909,  a  Vienne.     Rapport  officiel.     1910. 
Association  pour  la  Repression  de  la  Traite  des  Blanches  et  de  la  Pre- 
servation de  la  Jeune  Fille.    Assemblee  Generale  du  13  Juin,  1911. 

Paris,  1911. 
Commission  Extraparlementaire  du  Regime   des  Mceurs.       Rapports 

1903-1908: 

1.  Chef  de  Bureau  au  Ministere  de  1'Inte'rieur  M.  Hennequin. 
Reglementation  de  la  Prostitution  en  France.     1903. 

2.  De"put6   Paul   Meunier.     Rapport   sur   le  Fonctionnement   du 
Service  des  Mceurs  a  Paris.    1904. 

3.  Prof.  Alfred  Fournier.     Rapport.    Reponse  a  deux  Questions. 
1904. 

4.  Pr6f6t  de  Police  M.  Lepine.      Rapport  sur  la  Reglementation  de 
la  Prostitution  a  Paris  et  dans  le  Departement  de  la  Seine.     1904. 

5.  M.  Andre1  Lucas.     Rapport  sur  Deux  Vceux  ayant  pour  But 
V Abolition  de  certainesPratiqu.es  s'  inspirant  de  la  Reglementation 
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PART  II 
THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CONTAGIOUS  DISEASES  ACTS  * 

A.     Signed  Works. 

Amos,  Sheldon.     The  Present  State  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts 

Controversy.    London,  1870. 
Amos,  Sheldon.     A  Concise  Statement  of  Some  of  the  Objections  to  the 

Contagious  Diseases  Acts  of  1864,  '66   and   '69]  dealing  with  the 

Argument  up  to  the  Present  Time.     London,  1876. 
Amos,  Sheldon.     The  Policy  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  1866  and 

i860.     London,  n.  d. 
Ash,  Edward.      The   Contagious   Diseases  Acts  considered  in  their 

Relation  to  Religion  and  Morals.     London,  1871. 
Barcroft,  W.     The  Contagious  Diseases  Acts.     Shall  their  Repeal  be 

permitted?     (For  private  circulation  only.)     London,     n.  d. 
Batchelor,  Rev.  Henry.     The  Injustice,  Inutility,  and  Immorality  of 

the  Contagious  Diseases  (Women)  Acts.      (A  speech  delivered  at 

Glasgow.)     London,  1872. 
Beales,  Edmond.    A  Letter  on  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts.     London, 

1872. 
Beggs,  Thomas.     The  Proposed  Extension  of  the  Contagious  Diseases 

Acts  in  its  Moral  and  Economical  Aspects.     London,  1870. 
Blackstone,  Samuel.    Paternal  Government.     Whither  are  we  Drifting? 

London,  1873. 
Blackwell,  Elizabeth.     Wrong  and  Right  Methods  of  Dealing  with 

the  Social  Evil  as  shown  by  lately  Published  Parliamentary  Evidence. 

London,  n.  d. 

Blackwell,  Elizabeth.     Medical  Responsibility  in  Relation  to  the  Con- 
tagious Diseases  Acts.    An  Address.  ...    3d  ed.     London,  1897. 

1  This  bibliography  is  based  in  part  on  that  found  in  Benjamin  Scott, 
"  Literature  of  the  Repeal  Movement,"  in  A  State  Iniquity,  London, 
1890,  pp.  329  et  seq. 

277 


278  Bibliography 


Blunt,  Frederick.     Hindrances  to  the  Work  of  the  Church  arising  from 

Immorality,  and  Practical  Suggestions  for  overcoming  them.     London, 

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Bright,  Jacob.       Speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons  (with 

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Bright,  Jacob.     Speech  in  the  Debate  on  the    Contagious   Diseases 

Acts,  House  of  Commons,  July  22,  1872.    London,  1872. 
Bulteel,  Christopher.     The  Contagious  Diseases  Acts  considered  in 

their  Moral,  Social,  and  Sanitary  Aspects.     London,  1870. 
Bunting,  Thomas  P.     State  Provision  for  Vice.     London,  1875. 
Burgess,  Wm.     Dangerous  Tendencies  of  Medical  Alarmists.     London, 

1876. 
Butler,  Rev.  George.     The  Moral  Duty  of  the  Church  of  England  in 

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Butler,  Josephine  E.     An  Appeal  to  the  People  of  England  on  the 

Recognition  and  Superintendence  of  Prostitution  by  Governments. 

London,   1870. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  Moral  Reclaimdbility  of  Prostitutes.    Lon- 
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Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  Duty  of  Women  in  Relation  to  our  Great 

Social  Evil.     An  address  at  Carlisle,  Nov.  25,   1870.     London, 

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Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  Contagious  Diseases  Acts.     Letter  to  the 

Liverpool  Mercury.     London,  1870. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  Constitution  Violated.    An  Essay.    Edin- 
burgh, 1871. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     A  Letter  to  a  Meeting  of  Repealers  at  Chatham. 

London,  1871. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  Constitutional  Iniquity.     Speech  at  Brad- 
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Butler,  Josephine  E.    Vox  Populi.    A  selection  of  letters  from  various 

persons.     London,  1871. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.    Sursum  Corda.   Address  to  the  Ladies'  National 

Association.     London,  1871. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.    An  Address  delivered  at  Edinburgh,  Feb.  24, 

1871.     London,  1871. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  New  Era.    Containing  a  Retrospect  of  the 

History  of  the  Regulation  System  in  Berlin,  etc.     London,  1871. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     A  Letter  on  the  Subject  of  Mr.  Bruce's  Bill. 

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Butler,  Josephine  E.    Reply  to  Dr.  Sandwith's  Charges.    London, 

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Butler,  Josephine  E.     A  Letter  to  a  Friend.     London,  1873. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Speech  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Vigilance 

Association  for  the  Defence  of  Personal  Rights.     London,  1873. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Some  Thoughts  on  the  Present  Aspect  of  the 

Crusade  against  the  State  Regulation  of  Vice.     London,  1874. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.    A  Letter  to  the  Members  of  the  Ladies'  National 

Association.     London,  1875. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.    Speech  to  Ladies  at  Hull.    London,  1876. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Three  Addresses  on  Public  Morality.    London, 

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Butler,  Josephine  E.     A  Question  of  Life  and  Death  for  the  Nations. 

(Supplement   to  the  Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Federation.) 

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Butler,  Josephine  E.    Letter  to  the  Daily  Western  Times.      London, 

1878. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.    Address  at  Dublin,  November  4, 1 878.    London, 

1878. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.     Government  by  Police.    London,  1879. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Social  Purity.    An  Address.     London,  1879. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Address  to  the  Vigilance  Association  for  Defence 

of  Personal  Rights,  March  p,  1880.     London,  1880. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Address  on  the  Tenth  Anniversary  of  the  Ladies' 

National  Association.     London,  1880. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Deposition  on  Oath,  Statement,  and  a  Letter  to 

the  Home  Secretary.     London,  1880. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.    A  Letter  to  the  Mothers  of  England.    London, 

1881. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.    A  Call  to  Action.    London,  1881. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.    Speech  at  Leeds,  February  7,  1881.    London, 

1881. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  New  Godiva.    London,  1883. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  Bright  Side  of  the  Question.    London,  1883. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.      Simple  Words  for  Simple  Folk   (about  the 

Repeal  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts) .     London,  1 884. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Federation.     New  Abolitionist  Work  throughout 

the  World.     London,  1885. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     The  Demand  for  Moral  Members  of  Parliament. 

London,  1885. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     On  the  Dangers  of  Constructive  Legislation  in 

Regard  to  the  Social  Evil.      London,  1885. 
Butler,  Josephine  E.     Earnest  Words  to  Men  and  Women.    London, 

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Butler,  Josephine  E.  The  Revival  and  Extension  of  the  Abolitionist 
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Butler,  Josephine  E.  Letter  to  the  International  Convention  of  Women 
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Butler,  Josephine  E.  Personal  Reminiscences  of  a  Great  Crusade. 
London,  1896. 

Butler,  Josephine  E.  The  Hour  Before  the  Dawn.  An  Appeal  to  Men. 
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Calderwood,  Prof.  The  Purposes  and  Provisions  of  the  Contagious 
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Carpenter,  R.  L.  Three  A  r tides  on  the  Contagious  Diseases  A  cts.  Lon- 
don, 1870. 

Chant,  Mrs.  Ormeston.  Speech  at  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Ladies' 
National  Association.  London,  1886. 

Chapman,  Dr.  John.  Prostitution:  Governmental  Experiments  in 
controlling  it.  London,  1870. 

Chapman,  Dr.  John.  Compulsory  Medication  of  Prostitutes.  Lon- 
don, 1871. 

Chesson,  F.  W.  Paper  on  how  to  influence  Members  of  the  House  of 
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Close,  Francis,  Dean  of  Carlisle.  On  the  Abominable  System  of 
Espionage,  etc.,  under  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts.  London,  1870. 

Close,  Francis.  An  Examination  of  the  Witnesses  and  their  Evidence 
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Collingwood,  C.  S.  To  the  Clergy.  Some  of  the  Religious  and  Moral 
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Collingwood,  C.  S.  The  Church  of  England,  and  a  Great  Moral  Up- 
rising. London,  1871. 

Collingwood,  C.  S.  Some  Remarks  on  a  Recent  Contribution  to  the 
Literature  of  Regulated  and  Supervised  Immorality.  London, 
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Collingwood,  C.  S.     Josephine  Butler.     A  Sketch.     London,  1876. 

Collingwood,  C.  S.     The  Real  Question.     London,  1879. 

Collingwood,  C.  S.  A  Few  Leaves  from  the  Story  of  the  Struggle 
against  Immoral  Legislation  during  the  Past  Year.  London,  1880. 

Cooper,  Daniel.  The  Remedy  Worse  than  the  Disease.  London, 
1869. 

Craigen,  Jessie.     Speech  at  Leeds,  February  7,  1881.     London,"  1881. 

Dawson,  J.  H.     The  Black  Acts.     London,  1870. 

Dell,  Barton.     An  Enquiry.     London,  1874. 


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of  Compulsory  Examination.     London,  1884. 
Memorial  of  the  National  Association  for  Repeal  of  the  Contagious 

Diseases  Acts  addressed   to   both  Houses  of  the  Legislature,   1886. 

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Friends'  Association  for  Abolishing  State  Regulation  of  Vice;  a  short 

Summary  of  the  History  of  State  regulated  Vice  in  the  United  King- 
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Copy  of  a  Rough  Record  of  Events  and  Incidents  connected  with  the 

Repeal  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  1864-6-9,  in  the   United 

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City  of  London  Committee  for  Obtaining  the  Repeal  of  the  Contagious 

Diseases  Acts.    London,  n.  d. 


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Compulsory  Medication  of  Prostitutes  by  the  State.  (Reprint  from  the 
Westminster  Review,  July,  1876.)  London,  n.  d. 

Condition  of  the  Subjected  Districts  since  the  Suspension  of  Compulsory 
Periodical  Examinations.  London,  n.  d. 

English  and  Continental  Laws  and  Regulations  concerning  Prostitution. 
London,  n.  d. 

Manifesto  of  the  Association  formed  to  secure  the  Repeal  of  the  Conta- 
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Why  Should  I A  ttend  a  Meeting  for  Repeal?     London,     n.  d. 


INDEX 


Abduction,  63 

Abolitionist,    Der,    quoted,    note, 

174 

Abolitionist  movement,  163  et 
seq.;  in  England,  163  et  seq.; 
in  France,  182  et  seq.;  in  Ger- 
many, 193;  in  Italy,  193;  In- 
ternational Federation  at  Gen- 
eva, 197;  a  convert  to,  205;  in 
South  America,  207 

Addams,  Miss  Jane,  article  by, 
quoted,  note,  210 

African  tribes,  I 

Age  limitation  for  prostitutes,  38 

America,  prostitution  in,  9;  ob- 
jections to  "regulation"  in,  77, 
78;  constitutional  law  in,  115; 
difficulties  before  police  in, 
119;  puritanical  sentiment  in, 
147;  white-slave  traffic  in, 
207  et  seq.;  Nat.  Vigilance 
Committee,  207;  United  States 
joins  International  Treaty,  208; 
breaking  up  white-slave  traffic 
in,  208;  federal  laws  or  white- 
slave  traffic,  209;  state  laws 
concerning  white-slave  traffic, 
209;  societies  formed  for  re- 
pressing social  evil,  222  et  seq. 

American  Federation  for  Sex  Hy- 
giene, foundation  of,  229;  reso- 
lutions of,  229  ff. 

American  Medical  Association, 
resolutions  presented  to,  229 

American  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis)  cited, 
183;  215;  aims  of,  224;  found- 
ing of  the,  225;  work  of,  225; 
list  of  educational  pamphlets 


of,  226;  branches  of,  227;  and 
the  Page  law,  234  address  be- 
fore, 246  et  seq. 

Amps,  Professor  Sheldon,  quoted, 
iii;  Regulation  of  Vice,  quoted, 
note,  70;  167 

Amusement,  better  forms  of, 
needed,  149 

An  der  Konigsmauer,  a  haunt  of 
vice  in  Berlin,  39 

Ancient  Regulations,  12  ff. 

Animien-Kneipen,  174 

Annexes  au  Rapport  General,  cited 
note,  187 

Argentine  Societe  de  Protection, 
207 

Armies,  veneral  disease  in,  sta- 
tistics on,  53 

Asia  Minor,  prostitution  in,  2 

Atlantic  City,  licensing  of  pro- 
stitutes in,  241 

Augagneur,  M.,  Conf.  Inter., 
quoted,  note,  87,  note,  107; 
note,  113;  1 80;  opposed  to  regu- 
lation, 187;  191 

Australia,  165,  194 

Austria,  regulation  in,  48;  ven- 
ereal disease  in,  53 ;  65 ;  nation- 
al committees  formed  in,  172; 
white-slave  traffic  to,  197; 
league  in,  206;  see  Vienna 

Austro-Hungary ,  enters  into  treaty 
with  the  Netherlands,  199; 

202 

Avignon,  public  houses  established 
in,  16;  regulations  in,  note,  21 


B 


Baltimore,  society  started  in,  227 
Barmaids,  116 


291 


Index 


Barthelemy,  quoted,  note,  83, 
no;  Cow/.  Inter.,  quoted,  note, 
112;  180 

Basel,  public  houses  established 
in,  1 6 

Behrend,  Die  Prostitution  in  Ber- 
lin, cited  note,  34;  note,  37; 
note,  38;  note  40,  112 

Belgium,  regulation  in,  48;  abuses 
in,  198;  contracts  with  Holland, 
199;  202 

Bergen,  regulation  in,  105 

Bericht  des  Vereins  quoted,  note, 
206 

Berlin,  prostitutes  in,  9;  old 
regulations  outgrown  with 
growth  of,  32;  reformation  in, 
32  et  seq.;  regulation  in,  32  et 
seq.;  extent  of  prostitution  in, 
34;  segregation  in,  35;  moral 
welfare  of  prostitutes  in,  36; 
penalties  against  enticing 
women  to  brothels,  36;  sale  of 
liquor  in  brothels,  37;  police 
forbidden  to  grant  permits 
for  new  brothels,  37;  age  limi- 
tation for  prostitutes,  38;  re- 
gistration of  minors  in,  38; 
licensed  houses  in,  38;  failure 
of  public  houses  in,  39 ;  all  broth- 
els ordered  to  the  street  an  der 
Konigsmauer,  39 ;  brothels  closed 
in,  41;  brothels  moved,  41; 
licensed  houses  reopened,  42; 
special  body  of  police  needed, 
45;  note,  78;  registration  of 
minors  in,  note,  80;  82,  note, 
83;  medical  examinations  in, 
91;  venereal  disease  in,  100; 
morals  service  in,  118;  120,  121 

Bierhoff,  Dr.,  246 

Bingham,  Theodore  A.,  241 

Bischoff,  Justice,  opinion  on  Page 
law,  234 

Blackwell's  Island,  151 

Blascko,  Dr.,  COM/.  Inter.,  Brussels 
1899,  quoted  note,  63,  113; 
cited,  42,  53,  92,  101;  9,  98,  180 

Booth,  Mrs.,  of  the  Salvation 
Army,  199 

Boston,  recommendation  of  police 
commissioner,  242 


Brasseries  dfemmes,  126 

Brazil,  202 

Bremen,  segregation  in,  46 

Bright,  Jacob,  M.  P.,  167 

British  National  Vigilance  As- 
sociation, 199 

Brussels,  regulation  in,  46;  con- 
ferences at,  163;  international 
medical  congress  held  in,  1852, 
167;  'scandals  in,  177;  regula- 
tion in,  177;  corruption  of  police, 
177;  International  Conferences, 
the,  177  et  seq.;  Inter.  Conf. 
questions  considered  in,  178;  In- 
ter. Conf.  at,  official  reports  of, 
cited,  note,  179;  Inter.  Conf., 
recommendations  made  at,  180, 
181;  Inter.  Conf.,  futility  of, 
182;  second  conference,  reso- 
lutions of,  184;  summing  up  of 
the  two  conferences  at,  185; 
scandals  in,  197. 

Buffalo,  society  formed  in,  227 

Bulletin  Abolitionniste,  quoted, 
note,  172,  note,  205 

Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Internation- 
ale de  Prophylaxie  Sanitaire  et 
Morale,  quoted,  note,  51 

Bunting,  Sir  Percy,  200 

Burlereaux,  observation  of,   no, 

Butler,  Josephine  E.,  protest  of, 
165;  death  of,  173;  letter  to, 
196;  197,  199;  opposes  licensed 
prostitution,  232 ;  Personal 
Reminiscences  of  a  Great  Cru- 
sade, cited,  note  82,  note  163 

Byzantine  Emperors,  legislation 
of,  15 


"Cadet"  system,  viii,  ix,  155;  ff. 
"Cadets,"  methods  of,  156  ff.;  181 
California,  educational  literature 

in,  228 
Canada,  165 
Carlier,    Les   Deux   Prostitutions, 

quoted,  note,  18,  note,  25,  note, 

28;  note,  89. 

Carpenter,  Mary,  protest  of,  165 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  meeting 

held  at,  vii; 


Index 


293 


Charity  Hospital  of  Berlin,   33 

Charlemagne,  laws  of,  on  pro- 
stitution, 15 

Chastity,  185 

Cheyenne,  licensing  of  prostitu- 
tion in,  120,  210;  241 

Chicago,  society  formed  in,  227; 
society,  publications  of,  listed, 
note,  228,  prostitution  in,  235; 
Vice  Commission  appointed 
236;  recommendations  of  Vice 
Commission,  237  ff. 

Chicago  Vice  Commission,  findings 
of,  235  ff.;  criticism  of,  238;  as 
model  for  other  American  cities, 
240;  v,  215,  231  ff. 

Children  and  prostitution,  127  ff. 

Christiania,  statistics  of  prostitu- 
tion, in  51;  venereal  disease  in, 
51;  statistics  from,  105  ff. 

Christianity,  spread  of,  3 

Cities  Committee,  158 

City  Hospital  of  New  York, 
note,  131 

City  life  and  prostitution,    10 

Clandestine  prostitution,  extent 
of,  83;  difficulty  of  controlling, 
87 ;  statistics  on  disease  among, 
87 ;  93 , 104 ;  prevalency  of  disease 
among,  in;  118;  in  New  York, 
12 1 ;  125;  and  Raines  Law 
hotels,  139;  28,  34,  37,  41,  75, 
78;  250 

Colmar,  syphilis  in,  107,  108;  In- 
ternational Federation  meets 
at,  171 

Colmar  Congress,  report  of,  191 

Columbia  University,  251 

Commenge,  Dr.,  estimate  of ,  in 

Committee  of  Fifteen,  iv;  purpose 
of,  vii  ff . ;  founding  of,  vii ;  viii ;  ix ; 
recommendations  of,  147  et  seq.; 
recommendations  concerning 
minors,  151;  215,  240,  247,  257 

Committee  of  Fourteen,  iv;  begin- 
ning of,  215;  report  of,  217  and 
note;  report  of,  on  laws,  217; 
conclusions  of,  218;  report  of, 
quoted,  219;  recommendations 
of,  220  ff.;  results  of  their 
work,  220  ff.;  future  pro- 
gramme of,  221 


Comparative  Survey  of  Laws  in 
Force  for  the  Prohibition,  Re- 
gulation, and  Licensing  of  Vice 
in  England  and  other  Countries, 
quoted,  note,  iii 

Comparison  of  Reglementation 
Systems  of  Paris  and  Berlin, 
44-46 

Conference  Internationale,  See 
Brussels 

Conference  Internationale,  Brussels, 
1899:  Rapports  Preliminaires, 
cited,  note,  57,  note,  58;  Au- 
gagneur  cited,  note,  101;  Ehlers 
cited,  note,  101;  Tommasoli 
cited,  note,  101;  cited,  note, 
106,  in 

Constitution,  the,  an  obstacle 
to  "regulation,"  134 

Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  in  India, 
49;  101  ff.,  164,  196,  198 

Contagious  Diseases  Acts,  Report 
on,  quoted,  note,  101 

Contemporary  Review,  200 

Cooper  Union,  meeting  held  at, 

234 

Coote,  W.  A.,  helps  American 
Vigilance  Committee,  207;  v, 

173,  199 

Copenhagen,  release  of  registered 
prostitutes  in,  64;  syphilis  in, 
106;  conference  at,  199 

Costello,  Dr.,  opinion  of,  on 
regulation,  205 

County  Medical  Association,  re- 
port of  committee  of,  150 

Criminal  Law  Amendment  Act 
passed,  199 

Cruppi,  M.,  191 

Crusades,  3 


Daily  News  letters  to,  165 

De  Forest,  Dr.  Henry  B.,  cited, 

note,  194 
de  Laveleye,  168 
Denmark,  police  des  mceurs  abol- 
ished in,  192;  202 
Denver,  society  formed  in,  227 
Detroit,  society  started  in,  227 
Disease,  see  Venereal  Disease 


294 


Index 


Dodd,  Marion,  v 

Dorpat,  Livonia,  venereal  disease 

in,  1 08 
Dresden,  174 

Dress  of  prostitutes,  13,  17 
Dubpis-Havenith,   Dr.,    178 
Dupin,  M.,  cited,  44 
Dyer,  M.,  disclosures  made  by,ig8 


E 


Ehlers,  Conf.  Inter.  Brus.,  1899, 
cited,  note,  64 

Eliot,  President,  229 

Elkins  (W.  Va.),  society  started 
in,  227 

England,  regulations  in,  49;  sta- 
tistics of  venereal  disease  in,  101 
ff.;  a  law  of,  126;  elimination  of 
quacks  in,  note,  131 ;  the  struggle 
in,  163;  bill  introduced  by  Lord 
Clarence  Paget,  164;  new  fea- 
tures added  to  Lord  Paget's  bill, 
164;  committee  appointed  to 
investigate  venereal  disease, 
164;  law  for  system  repealed, 
1 68,  169;  national  committees 
formed  in,  172;  factory  legis- 
lation, 196;  "White  Slaves," 
196;  Contagious  Diseases  Acts 
repealed  in,  198;  see  also  under 
London 

English  laws,  the  repeal  of,  164 
et  seq. 

Evangelical  Association,   193 


Federation  Abolitionniste  Inter- 
nationale, 170;  cited,  note,  193; 
quoted,  note,  204 

Fiaux,  Louis,  quoted,  93;  works 
of,  173  and  note 

Finger,  quoted  90;  95 

Flesch,  Prostitution  und  Frauen- 
krankheiten,  cited,  note,  58 

Florence,  international  medical 
congress  held  in,  1869,  169 

Folks,  Homer,  246,  252 

Fournier,  Prof.,  57;  quoted,  note, 
85,  note,  109,  note,  112,  180;  at 
Brussels,  180;  before  Paris  Ac- 


ademy, 1 82 ;  head  of  French  soci- 
ety, 183;  in  favour  of  regula- 
tion, 187 

France,  venereal  disease  in,  53; 
regulation  in;  73;  116;  national 
committee  formed  in,  172;  con- 
siders nee-regulation  scheme, 
188:202;  see  Paris. 

Frankfort,  A./M.,  conference  at, 

2OI 

French  Extra-Parliamentary  Com- 
mission, appointed,  187,  186  et 
seq.;  first  fruits  of,  190 

French  League  of  Public  Moral- 
ity, 173 

French  Revolution,  increase  of 
prostitution  after,  4;  37 


Gailleton,  Dr.  D.,  183 

Gaucher,  Dr.,  183 

General  Code  (Allgemeines  Lan- 
drechf)  of  Berlin,  35 

Geneva,  headquarters  of  Inter- 
national Federation,  170;  Abo- 
litionist Federation  at,  197; 
second  congress  held  at,  197; 
resolution  adopted  at  second 
congress  held  at,  197;  inter- 
national conference  at,  204 

Germans,  ancient,  i 

Germany,  venereal  disease  in,  53; 
national  committee  formed  in, 
1 72 ;  investigating  committee 
in,  174;  abolitionist  movement 
in,  193;  202;  see  Berlin 

Gide,  Professor,  187 

Gillet,  Mr.,  disclosures  made  by, 
198 

Girl  that  Disappears,  cited,  note, 
241 

Glasgow,  absolute  repression  in, 
1 08 

Gonorrhoea,  87;  treatment  of,  in 
France,  94;  decline  in,  103;  in- 
crease in,  105;  and  present 
"regulation,"  113;  see  Vene- 
real Diseases 

Grand  Jury,  Special,  see   Special 

Greece,  prostitution  in,  2,  12  ff.; 
59;  regulation  in,  247 


Index 


295 


Guyot,   M.  Yves,    172;  excluded 
from  convention,  178;  183,  187 


H 


Hague,  The,  third  congress  held  at, 
198 

Hall,  Dr.  Winfield  Scott,  works 
of,  cited,  note,  228 

Hamburg,  public  houses  estab- 
lished in,  1 6 

Hartford,  society  started  in,  227 

Hebrews,  prostitution  among  an- 
cient, i;  legislation  of,  con- 
cerning prostitution,  12 

Hedonism,  7 

Henry  II.,  royal  patent  by,  16 

History  of  European  Morals, 
quoted,  3 

Holland,  contracts  with  Belgium, 
199;  202 

Hoist,  Conf.  Inter.,  Brus.,  cited, 
note,  51,  note,  105 

Hong  Kong,  regulations  in,  49 

Hospitals,  treatment  of  venereal 
diseases  in,  94 

Houses  of  prostitution,  see  Public 
houses 

Howard-Bennett  Act,  208 

Hugel,  cited,  112 

Hughes,  Governor,  216 

Hugo,  Victor,  168;  letter  of,  196 

Hungary,  regulation  in,  48;  white- 
slave  traffic  to,  197 


Illinois,  "pandering  law"  passed 
in,  209 

Immigration  law  in  U.  S.,  208  ff. 

Immigration  Report,  cited,  note, 
208 

India,  regulations  in,  49;  165 

Indiana,  educational  literature  in, 
228 

Indianapolis,  society  formed  in, 
227 

"Indirect  regulation,"  189 

International  Abolitionist  Federa- 
tion, 169  et  seq. 

International  Conferences,  see 
Brussels 


International  congress  for  sup- 
pression of  white-slave  traffic, 
founding  of,  200 

International  Federation  for  Abo- 
lition of  State  Regulation  of 
Vice  formed,  169 

International  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis  founded, 
182 

International  White-Slave  Treaty, 
terms  of,  note  202 

Ireland,  regulations  in,  49;  statis- 
tics of  venereal  disease  in,  101  ff . 

Italian  army,  syphilis  in,  107 

Italy,  regulation  in,  46;  venereal 
disease  in,  53;  statistics  of,  107; 
treatment  of  disease  in,  193; 
202 


Jadassohn,  quoted,  94;  95 
Janney,  Dr.  O.Edward,  207,  210 
Japan,  regulations  in,  49;  Kakusei 

Kai,  195;  the  Yoshiwara,  195; 

a  custom  in,  248 
Jeannel,  La  Prostitution  dans  les 

grandes  Villes  du   dix-neuvieme 

Siede,  cited,  note,  64,  note,  71 
Jeffries,  indictment  and  conviction 

of,  199 

Johnson,  Alvin  S.,  ix 
Jullien,  quoted,  note,  85 


K 


Kakusei  kai,  195 

Keller    case    decided    by    U.     S. 

Supreme  Court,  209 
Kromayer,  quoted,  note,  90,  note, 

94;  note,  104,  note,  113 


Landouzy,  Dr.,  183 

La    Repression   de  la    Traite  des 

Blanches,  cited,  note,  205 
Lassar  quoted,  note,  no 
Lausanne,  conference  at,  199 
Laws     and    regulations,     discus- 
sion   concerning,  iii;  ix,  12  ff.; 
65    et    seq.;    in    Paris,   22    et 


296 


Index 


Laws  and  regulations — Continued 
seq. ;  in  Berlin,  32  et  seq. ;  system 
of  Berlin  and  Paris  compared, 
44  ff.;  in  European  cities,  46 
et  seq.;  Hungary,  48;  Belgium, 
48 ;  moral  aspects  of,  59  et  seq. ; 
danger  of,  76;  objectors  to, 
77;  danger  of  registered  prosti- 
tutes, 78 ;  practical  difficulties  in 
establishing,  83;  imperfections 
of,  89;  in  Norway,  105;  sugges- 
tions for,  in  New  York,  114  ff. ; 
concerning  private  houses,  126; 
in  continental  cities,  concerning 
children,  127;  repeal  of  English, 
164;  condemnation  of  present, 
183;  see  also  under  names  of 
places;  see  Regulation;  see  Sani- 
tary control 

Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals, 
quoted,  note,  3 

Lecour,  La  Prostitution  a  Paris  et 
a  Londres,  cited,  note,  23,  note, 
24,  note,  26;  quoted,  note,  83; 
119 

Le  Pileur,  Dr.,  quoted,  note,  79, 
note,  84,  note,  85,  note,  93 

Le  Relevement  Social  quoted,  note, 

173 

Licensed  prostitution,  26  ff.;  see 
also  Public  houses  of  Prostitu- 
tion 

Lippington,  B.,  monograph  by, 
cited,  note,  188 

Liquor,  sale  of,  in  Berlin,  37;  effect 
of,  125  ff.;  suggestions  concern- 
ing sale  of,  126;  and  the  Raines 
Law,  136 

Lombroso,  note,  6 

London,  prostitution  in,  9;  con- 
ditions in,  75;  moral  crimes  in, 
75;  venereal  disease  in,  99;  sys- 
tem of  disease  prevention,  164 
ff . ;  Ladies  National  Associa-  • 
tion,  167;  movement  among  the 
men  in,  1 67 ;  Royal  Commission 
appointed,  167;  committees 
formed  by  non-conformists, 
1 68;  convention  held  at,  198; 
congress  of,  199;  congress  for 
suppression  of  white-slave  traffic 
held  in,  200 


Louis  XVI.,  registration  of  pro- 
stitutes ordered  by,  25 
Lyons,  syphilis  in,  106 

M 

Madrid,  fourth  congress  held  at, 

205 ;  206 
Malmroth,  Dr.  Carl,  cited,  note, 

192 
Marriage-laws,     suggestion     for, 

132 
Marseilles,    licensed    houses    in, 

47. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  opposition  of, 
to  legislation,  165 

Maurice,  Rev.  Frederick  D.,  167 

Mayer,  Mr.,  246 

Mazzini,  168 

Mediaeval  regulation  of  vice,  15  ff. 

Medical  examination  of  prosti- 
tutes, see  Sanitary  control 

Metropolitan  Hospital  of  New 
York,  note,  131 

Metropolitan  United  Contagious 
Diseases  Acts  Association, 
members  of,  167 

Middle  Ages,  the,  prostitution  in, 
5;  regulation  in,  15  ff.;  social 
life  of  the  prostitute  in  the,  1 7 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  167;  Evidence 
before  Royal  Commission,  quoted, 
1 68 

Milwaukee,  society  formed  in,  227 

Minneapolis,  prostitution  in,  238; 
commission  appointed  in,  238 

Minneapolis  Vice  Commission, 
v,  215,  231  ff.;  compared  to 
Committee  of  Fifteen,  239; 
report  made,  239;  recom- 
mendations of,  239,  240;  as 
model  for  other  American 
cities,  240 

Minod,  M.  Henri,  Secretary  of 
International  Federation,  v, 
note,  172 

Mireur,  La  Prostitution  a  Mar- 
seilles, quoted,  note,  70 

Modderman,  M.,  198 

Modern  regulations,  20  ff. 

Moral  control,  repressive  features 
in,  124  et  seg. 


Index 


297 


Moral  regulation  of  vice,  123  et 
seq.',  preventive  features,  127 
et  seq.;  sanitary  features,  130 
et  seq. 

"Morals  Bureau"  in  Paris,  27 

Morals  police,  27,  28,  65,  82; 
need  for,  133;  recommenda- 
tions of  Committee  of  Fifteen 
on,  154;  part  of  white-slave 
traffic,  204 

Morals  service,  70,  129 

Morley,  John,  167 

Morrow,  Dr.  Prince  A.,  vi;  The 
Prophylaxis  of  Venereal  Disease, 
quoted,  note,  131 ;  quoted,  note, 
150;  head  of  American  Society, 
183;  proposition  made  by,  222; 
229;  quoted,  252 

Moscow,  92 

Muller,  quoted,  note,  83 

Mundella,  A.  J.,  M.  P.,  167 


N 


"Nafke  bias"  a,  158 

Naples,  ordinance  of,  1 6 

National  Vigilance  Committee 
cited,  note,  207 

Neisser,  Con/.  Inter.  Brus.  1899; 
Rapport  Preliminaires,  quoted, 
note,  71;  quoted,  note,  no; 
Bulletin  de  la  Societe  Interna- 
tionale de  Prophylaxie  Sanitaire 
et  Morale,  quoted,  note,  112; 
182; 184 

Neo-regulation,  184 

Netherlands,  national  committee 
formed  in,  172;  enters  into 
treaty  with  Austro-Hungary, 
199 

Neuchatel,  convention  held  at,  198 

New  Jersey,  society  formed  in,  227 

Newman,  Prof.  F.  W.,  167 

New  York,  venereal  diseases  in, 
100;  reglementation  in,  114  ff.; 
social  and  economic  conditions 
in,  114;  difficulties  of  coping 
with  situation  in,  119;  difficul- 
ties of  police  in,  120;  treatment 
of  patients  in,  note,  131;  Raines 
Law  hotels,  135  et  seq.;  solicita- 
tion in,  136;  policy  submitted 


for,  148  et  seq.;  needs  of,  148;  ex- 
pansion of,  148;  provisions  for 
diseased  women  in,  150;  status 
of  prostitution  in,  152;  develop- 
ment of  vice  in,  155;  houses  of 
prostitution  in,  155;  systems  of 
' '  watch-boys  "  or  "  light-houses' ' 
in,  155;  police  of,  155;  "cadet" 
system  in,  155;  difficulties  of 
honest  police,  156;  "cadets" 
imprisoned  for  abduction,  157; 
ignorant  Police  Commissioner 
of,  158;  argument  of  Cities 
Committee  at  Albany,  158; 
East  Side  children  in,  158;  "Red 
Light"  district,  158;  disorderly 
tenants  removed  by  Tenement 
House  Law,  159;  arrest  of  pro- 
prietors of  dives,  159;  investi-  . 
gationsin,  208;  Special  Grand  ' 
Jury  sworn  in,  210;  recom- 
mendations made  by  Grand 
Jury,  212;  magistrates'  courts, 
216;  investigation  of  courts, 
216;  conditions  in,  found  by 
Committee  of  Fourteen,  217 
et  seq.;  committee  finds  laws  are 
not  enforced  in,  219;  recommen- 
dations of  the  committee,  220: 
results  of  work  of  Committee 
of  Fourteen  in,  221;  Raines 
Law  hotels  in,  221;  Page  law 
passed,  221;  future  programme 
of  Committee  of  Fourteen,  22 1 ; 
hospital  for  venereal  patients, 
227;  Page  law,  231;  " regula- 
tion" experiment  made  in,  232; 
committee  formed  in  opposition 
to  licensed  prostitution,  232 ;  see 
Raines  Law  hotels 

New  York  Evening  Post  cited, 
note,  232 

New  York  Vigilance  Society,  v 

Nieman  quoted,  note,  83 

Nightingale,  Florence,  protest  of, 

165 

Norway,  law  on  venereal  disease, 
51;  statistics  of  prostitution  in, 
51;  100;  statistics  from,  105; 
national  committee  formed  in, 
1 72 ;  police  des  mosurs  abolished 
in,  192;  202;  see  Christiania 


298 


Index 


Notes  on  Administrative  Measures 

quoted,  note,  177 
Nuremberg,  conditions  in,  18 


O 


Oakland,  society  formed  in,  227 
Obertribunal  of  Prussia,  42 
(Euvre  Liber  atrice,  L',  173 
Okuma,  ex- Premier  Count,  195 
O'Meara,  Stephen,  document  of, 

quoted,  242  ff. 
Ozenne,  Dr.,  Conf.  Inter.,  Brus., 

quoted,  note,  45 


Page,  Alfred  R.,  216 
Page  Commission,  report  of,  216 
Page  law,  216,  231  ff. ;  enactment 
of,  233 ;  section  79  quoted,  note, 
233;   section    79    declared   un- 
constitutional,   234;    Bischoff's 
decision  reversed,  234,  235;  de- 
cision upheld  by  higher  court, 
235;  an  address  on,  246  et  seq.; 
252  ff . ;  chief  indictment  against, 

254 

Paget,  Lord  Clarence,  164 

Pall  Mall  Gazette,  Revelations  of, 
quoted,  note,  75 

Pall  Mall  Gazette,  exposures  in, 
199 

"Pandering"  law,  209 

Parent-Duchatelet,  De  la  Pro- 
stitution dans  la  Ville  de  Paris, 
quoted,  note,  14;  quoted,  note, 
21 ;  cited,  note,  23,  note,  27, 

112 

Paris,  regulation  in,  22  ff.; 
weakness  of  regulation  sys- 
tem in,  29;  special  body  of 
police  needed,  45 ;  confines  pro- 
stitution to  licensed  houses,  45; 
65;  brothels,  74;  note,  78; 
registration  of  minors  in,  note, 
80;  registration  in,  82;  note, 
83;  medical  examinations  in, 
87;  numbers  of  registered  pro- 
stitutes in,  90;  medical  exam- 
inations in,  91;  failure  of 
sanitary  control  in,  93 ;  venereal 


disease  in,  100;  morals  service 
for,  118;  power  of  arrest  in,  119; 
120,  121 ;  hospitals  in,  note,  131 ; 
international  medical  congress 
held  in,  1867,  169;  mistakes  in, 
1 86;  international  prison  con- 
gress at,  200;  conference  at,  201 

Paris  Academy  of  Medicine,  paper 
read  before,  182 

Patronato  Real  formed  in  Spain, 
204 

Petersen,  O.  V.  Conf.  Inter.,  Brus., 
quoted,  note,  58 

Philadelphia,  120;  society  started 
in,  227 

Police,  power  of,  abroad,  119  ff. ; 
honest  police  in  N.  Y.,  156; 
statement  of  N.  Y.  Police 
Commissioner,  1 58 

Police  control  of  prostitutes,  in 
Paris,  23;  8 1 

Police  Department  of  the  City, 
Boston  cited,  note,  242 

"Police  des  Mceurs,"  see  Morals 
Police 

Police  of  New  York,  bribery  of, 

155 

Polizei  und  Prostitution  cited, 
note,  193 

Pontoppidan,  Prof.  Erik,  quoted, 
note,  192 

Portland  (Ore.),  society  founded 
in, 227 

Portugal,  regulations  in,  49;    202 

Posen,  barmaids  in,  note,  116 

"Prophylaxis  of  Venereal  Dis- 
eases" quoted,  150 

Prostitutes,  compelled  to  undergo 
medical  inspection,  41 ;  registra- 
tion of,  43,  80,  83;  treatment 
of  registered,  43;  regulations  for, 
44;  treated  as  a  special  class, 
44;  imposing  registration  on,  45; 
examinations  weekly  in  Berlin, 
46;  examinations  fortnightly  in 
Paris,  46;  in  Bremen,  46;  ex- 
periments made  by  England 
concerning,  49;  in  Japan,  49; 
syphilis  among,  52;  perversity 
of,  62;  congenital  perverts 
among,  62;  in  European  cities, 
64;  cancelling,  from  register,  64; 


Index 


299 


Prostitutes — Continued 

opposition  of,  to  regulation, 
67;  ideas  of  many  about,  67; 
character  of,  68  ff. ;  the  "street- 
walkers," 75;  career  of  average, 
80,  note,  85:  minor,  80;  difficulty 
of  registering,  80,  83 ;  number  of 
registered,  note,  80;  prevalence 
of  venereal  diseases  among, 
84  ff . ;  chances  of  infection  from 
intercourse  with,  84  ff.;  age 
of  infection  among,  85;  dangers 
of  clandestine,  86;  morbidity 
among,  86;  men  protect  dis- 
eased, 87;  state  of  health  of,  87; 
number  of,  examined,  87;  dan- 
gerous, 88;  not  properly  exam- 
ined, 89;  expense  of  treatment 
of,  90;  table  of  registered, 
quoted,  note,  93;  opinions  of 
Finger  concerning,  95;  con- 
cealing of  disease  by,  quoted 
note,  102;  experiment  with, 
in  St.  Louis,  109;  treated  for 
syphilis,  1 1 1 ;  and  disease,  1 1 1 ; 
easy  to  hide  life  in  America,  119; 
migratory  habits  of,  120;  and 
their  children,  note,  127;  in 
tenement  houses,  128,  158; 
among  the  ignorant,  129;  black- 
mail of,  133;  and  Raines  Law 
hotels,  137  ff.;  robberies  by, 
139;  advertising  by,  155;  com- 
plaints against,  158;  compul- 
sory examination  of,  169;  and 
' '  cadets, "  1 8 1 ;  resolutions 
concerning,  184;  treatment  of, 
in  Italy,  193;  dress  of,  248 

Prostitution,  spread  of,  in  New 
York,  vii;  in  tenement  houses, 
ix,  128,  155;  in  Siberian  tribes, 
I;  among  ancient  Germans, 
i;  among  ancient  Hebrews, 
i;  among  African  tribes,  i;  in 
Asia  Minor,  2;  in  Greece,  2; 
in  Rome,  2 ;  in  Western  Europe, 
2 ;  extent  of,  2 ;  causes  of,  3,  4  ff ., 
6,  82;  effect  of  Crusades  on,  3; 
effect  of  Thirty  Years'  War,  4; 
effect  of  French  Revolution,  4; 
population  in  regard  to,  4; 
in  Middle  Ages,  5,  15  ff.; 


recruits  for,  6  ff.,  61  ff.  157;  in 
London,  9;  in  Berlin,  9,  32  et 
seq.;  in  America,  9;  regulation 
of,  in  Rome,  12  ff.;  regulation 
of,  in  Greece,  12  ff. ;  mediaeval 
regulation  of,  15;  toleration  of, 
16;  royal  patent  for,  16;  public 
houses  established,  16;  sanitary- 
aspect,  2 1 ;  in  Paris,  22 ;  sanitary 
control  of,  23  ff.,  88,  98;  police 
control  of,  24  ff.,  66  ff.,  240;  re- 
gistration, 25  ff. ;  licensed  in 
Paris,  27 ;  tax  upon,  33 ;  petitions 
against,  in  Berlin,  39;  resources 
of,  40;  tolerated  at  large,  42; 
a  status,  44;  manner  of  regard- 
ing, 44;  confined  to  licensed 
houses,  45;  in  Bremen,  46;  in 
Marseilles,  47;  in  Russian  cities, 
48;  in  Vienna,  47,  48;  effect  on 
general  health,  50;  results  of 
unchecked,  59 ;  government 
policies  toward,  60;  patrons  of, 
61;  and  poverty,  62;  and 
working  classes,  62;  abduc- 
tion, 63;  redemption  of  pros- 
titutes, 63;  control  of,  65; 
and  venereal  diseases,  66;  mod- 
ern, 68;  dangers  of  regulation, 
72;  danger  of,  legitimising,  72; 
"street- walking,"  74  ff.;  dan- 
gers of  connection  with  pla- 
ces of  amusement,  74;  dangers 
of  unrestrained,  75;  opposition 
to  "regulation"  of,  77;  allied 
with  police,  78 ;  difficulties  of  "re- 
gulation,"  79  et  seq.;  statistics 
concerning,  79;  practical  diffi- 
culties of  registration,  83;  per- 
centage of  registered  prosti- 
tutes, 84;  dangers  of  clandestine, 
86;  older  authorities  on,  88; 
venereal  diseases  and,  89;  objec- 
tions of  prostitutes  to,  examina- 
tion 92  ff . ;  inability  to  cope  with, 
92,  93;  diseased  patrons  of,  96; 
and  the  army,  102;  and  civil 
population,  104;  and  disease 
in  Norway,  105  ff.;  experiment 
in  St.  Louis  with,  109;  regulation 
of,  114;  classifying,  1 15  ff.;  an- 
cient laws  concerning,  117; 


300 


Index 


Prostitution — Continued 

unsubjected,  118;  ways  of  deal- 
ing with,  123;  and  saloons,  126; 
of  young  girls,  129;  in  hotels, 
135;  accommodations  for,  137; 
increase  of,  in  N.  Y.,  148;  as  a 
crime,  152;  in  New  York  City, 
152  ff.;  and  the  police  depart- 
ment, 155;  regulation  in  foreign 
ports,  164;  attempt  to  abolish, 
170;  recommendations  concern- 
ing young  girls,  181;  licensed, 
189;  change  of  opinion  con- 
cerning, 192;  in  Japan,  195; 
white-slave  traffic  in  Europe, 
197  et  seq.;  exposure,  of  con- 
ditions in  London,  199;  terms  of 
the  International  White-Slave 
Treaty,  202  ff;  white-slave  traffic 
in  America,  207  et  seq. ;  Supreme 
Court  decision  concerning,  209; 
Special  Grand  Jury  to  inves- 
tigate, 210  ff.;  recommenda- 
tions of  Committee  of  Fourteen 
concerning,  220  ff.;  societies 
formed  to  fight,  220  et  seq. ;  the 
"Page law"  231  et  seq.,  252  ff.; 
in  Chicago;  and  the  public  con- 
science, 236 ;  in  Minneapolis,  238 ; 
a  police  opinion  on,  242,  ff ;  an 
address  on,  246  et  seq.;  evils  of 
regulation,  247  ff.;  see  Clan- 
destine prostitution  also  Public 
houses  of  prostitution;  also 
Prostitutes;  also  Laws,  Sanitary 
control. 

Protest,  a,  against  disease  legis- 
lation, 165  fL 

Providence,  society  formed  in, 
227 

Prussian  law,  a,  Das  Fiirsorge- 
Erziehungs-Gesetz,  note,  130 

Public  houses  of  prostitution, 
in  Vienna,  16;  in  Zurich,  16; 
in  Avignon,  16;  in  Hamburg,  16; 
in  Regensburg,  16;  in  Basel,  16; 
in  Berlin,  32  et  seq.;  in  Paris,  45; 
in  Marseilles,  47;  sale  of  liquor 
in,  74;  advantage  of,  92; 
189 

Public  schools,  benefit  of,  129; 
sex  instruction  in,  230  ff. 


Q. 

"Quack"  physicians,  130 
Queyrat,  Dr.,  183. 

R 

Raines  Law,  ix;  helps  abettors  of 
vice,  137;  some  provisions  of, 
quoted,  141  ff.;  155 

Raines  Law  hotel,  135  et  seq. ;  helps 
to  prostitute,  137;  people  easily 
"victimised"  in,  138;  corruption 
of  minors,  138;  conveniences  of , 
139;  facilities  for  seduction  in, 
139;  and  clandestine  prostitu- 
tion, 139;  chief  factor  in  spread 
of  venereal  disease,  140;  crimes 
in,  140;  156,  212,  215,  217,  256 

Rapport  General,  cited,  note  187; 
quoted,  note,  189 

Record,  A,  cited,  note,  244 

"Red  Light"  district,  158 

Reform  movement,  viii;  descrip- 
tion of,  175-177 

Reformation,  spread  of,  3 

Regensburg,  public  houses  es- 
tablished in,  1 6 

Regime  des  mceurs,  188,   190 

Registration  of  prostitutes,  in 
Paris,  25;  in  Berlin,  33  ff.;  see 
Laws  and  regulations,  Regu- 
lation, Sanitary  control 

Reglementation,  134;  see  Regula- 
tion, Laws,  Sanitary  control 

Regolamento  sul  Meretricio  in 
Italy,  193 

Regulation,  the  Scandinavian 
scheme,  188  et  seq.;  "indirect," 
189;  decrease  of,  195;  232;  in 
America,  233  ff.;  opinion 
against,  239;  evils  of,  247  et 
seq. ;  sanitary  and  moral,  249  ff . ; 
the  sale  of  liquor  under,  251; 
see  Sanitary  control,  Laws 
and  Regulations,  Registration 
of  prostitutes 

Regulations  in  Other  European 
Cities,  46-48 

Reimers  quoted,  note,  103 

Rennes,  mistakes  in,  186 

Report  of  a  Visit  to  the  United 
States  cited,  note,  232,  233 


'     • 

FOR 
aJOLOOJCAL  RBSBJLRC* 


Index 


301 


Report  of  Parliamentary  Committee 
on  the  Contagious  Diseases  Acts, 
1882,  cited,  note,  68 

Report  of  Vice  Commission  in 
Minneapolis  cited,  note,  238 

Research  Committee,  216;  see 
Committee  of  Fourteen, 

Reuss,  La  Prostitution,  cited,  note, 
25;  quoted,  note,  73,  note,  74, 
note,  83 

Rhode  Island,  educational  liter- 
ature in,  228 

Rhode  Island  State  Board,  list 
of  circulars  distributed  by, 
note,  228 

Rockefeller,  John  D.,  Jr.,  210,  213 

Roe,  Clifford  G.,  210 

Rome  prostitution  in,  2,  12  ff.;  3 
ff. ;  legislation  on  prostitutes,  15; 
59;  regulation  in,  247 

Roosevelt,  President,  208 

Russia,  city  regulations  in,  48; 
venereal  disease  in,  55 ;  8 1 ;  medi- 
cal examination  in,  note,  116; 
202 


St.  Lazare,  prison  hospital  of, 
28,  in,  180 

St.  Louis,  ordinance  of,  16;  ex- 
periment in  regulation  in,  49; 
sanitary  control  in,  109;  society 
started  in,  227;  meeting  held 
in,  229;  "regulation"  experiment 
in,  232 

St.  Petersburg,  92 

Sainte-Croix,  Mme.  G.  Avril  de, 
172;  Rescue  Home  founded  by, 
173;  187 

Salic  Law  on  punishment  of 
protitutes,  15 

Salp£triere,  the,  23 

San  Antonio,  society  formed  in, 
227 

Sanitary  control,  23,  57;  in  Ber- 
lin,  33  ff . ,  38, 4 1 , 42 ;  in  Vienna, 
47  ff.;  difficulty  of  enforcing, 
60,67,  92  ff-i  I22!  necessity  for 
rigid,  66;  people  opposed  to,  77 ; 
over  minors,  80;  opposition  to, 
8 1 ;  over  clandestine  prostitutes, 


87,  88;  therapeutic  efficiency  of, 
88;  imperfections  of,  89;  expense 
of,  90;  objections  of  prostitutes 
to,  92  ff . ;  prostitutes  escape  from, 
92  ff.;  actual  effectiveness  of, 
98  et  seq.  ;  abolished  in  Norway, 
105;  results  of  abolishing,  107; 
in  New  York,  114  et  seq.;  sug- 
gestions for,  in  N.  Y.,  114  ff.; 
difficult  problem  in  New  York, 
122;  condemnation  of  present, 
183;  Prof.  Fournier  in  favour  of, 
187;  present  system  recognised 
as  bad,  191;  failure  to  legalise 
in  America,  233  ff.;  Mr.  Selig- 
man's  opinions  on,  246  et  seq.; 
an  address  on,  246  et  seq.;  see 
Laws  and  regulations 

Scandinavian  states,  regulations 
in,  49 

Scheven,  Frau  Katharina,  v,  174 

Schmolder  cited,  note,  64 

Scott,  Benjamin,  A  State  of  In- 
iquity, cited,  note,  163 

Seattle,  society  formed  in,  227 

Seconde  Conference  Internationale 
quoted,  note,  183 

Seduction,  74 

Segregation,  in  Rome,  13;  in 
Middle  Ages,  17;  in  Nuremberg, 
18;  in  Paris,  27;  in  Berlin,  35, 
39,  45;  in  Bremen;  46;  smaller 
German  cities,  47;  smaller 
French  cities,  47;  in  Japan,  49, 
195;  recommendation  of  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  on,  1525.; 
opinion  against,  239;  in  Atlantic 
City,  241 ;  in  Cheyenne,  241 ; 
see  Laws  and  regulations 

Select  Report  on  Law  Relating  to 
the  Protection  of  Young  Girls 
quoted,  note,  75 

Seligman,  Edward,  address  on 
Sanitary  Control,  246  et  seq; 
recommendations  of,  256ff. 

"Sex"  literature,  dangers  of  bad, 
230 

Shield,  The,  173,  note,  192 

Short  Summary  of  the  History  of 
Prostitution  cited,,  note,  163 

Shrank,  Die  Prostitution  in  Wien, 
quoted,  note,  66 


302 


Index 


Siberian  tribes,  prostitution  in,  I 
Slaves  as  prostitutes,  5 
Social  Diseases,  quoted,  note,  227; 
228,  229;  cited,  note,  231,  note, 

234 
Social  Evil  in  Chicago  cited,  note, 

235 
Society  for  Prevention  of  Venereal 

Diseases,  194 
Society    of   Sanitary    and    Moral 

Prophylaxis  cited,  note,  222 
Souteneurs,  181 

South  America,  abolitionist  move- 
ment in,  207 
Spain,  regulation  in,  49;  national 

committee  formed  in,  172;  202; 

Patronato  Real  formed  in,  204; 

report  of  National  Committee 

on  White  Slaves,  206 
Special   Grand   Jury,    report   of, 

2 1  o  ff . ;  recommendations  of ,  2 1 2 

ff. 

Spencer,  Herbert,   167 
Sperry,  Dr.  Lyman  B.,  works  of, 

cited,  note,  228 
Spokane,  society  started  in,  227; 

society,  publications  of,  listed, 

note,  228 

Stansfeld,  Mr.,  motion  of,  168 
State  laws,  need  for,  133 
Statistics,  on  prostitution,  51   et 

seq.,    79,    159;    disease    among 

clandestine  prostitutes,  87;  on 

venereal  diseases,  93 ;  of  syphilis 

in  England  and  Ireland,  101  ff.; 

flaws  in,  105 
Statuts,   Federation   Abolitionniste 

Internationale,     Geneva,     cited, 

note,  170 
Stead,  W.  P.,  publishes  exposure 

of  conditions,  199 
Strohmberg,  note  6;  quoted,  note, 

20;    Die    Prostitution,    quoted, 

note,   73;    quoted,    90;    cited, 

note,  108;  quoted,  note,  112 
Stuart,  Prof.,  167 
Stuart,  Right  Hon.  James,  173 
Sturgis,  Dr.  F.  R.,  quoted,  note, 

?J 

Sturmer,  Die  Prostitution  in  Russ- 

land,   quoted,   note,   63;  cited, 
note,  82,  note,  92;  99 


Sweden,  national  committee 
formed  in,  172;  change  of 
opinion  in,  192;  commission 
appointed  in,  192;  202 

Switzerland,  national  committee 
formed  in,  172;  202 

Syphilis,  19;  in  Paris,  22;  84  ff.; 
treatment  of,  in  France,  94; 
statistics  of,  in  England  and 
Ireland,  101  ff.;  case  of  infec- 
tion cited,  no;  scourge  of,  248; 
see  Venereal  disease 

Syracuse,  society  formed  in,  227 


Tacitus  quoted,  15 

Tamm,  Hugo,  192 

Tammany  Hall,  viii 

Tammeo,  La  Prostituzione,  quoted, 

note,  19 
Tarnowsky,  B.,  note,  6;  views  of, 

61;  95,  no;  quoted,  note,  1 12 
Tarnowsky,  Pauline,  note,  6 
Tenement  House  Bill,  viii 
Tenements,    prostitution    in,    ix; 

effects    of    crowding    in,     128; 

prostitution  in,  152;  conditions 

in,  157  ff.;  217 
Teutonic,    influence    of,    customs 

and  laws,  15 
Teutonic  legislation,   severity  of 

early,  16 
Thirty  Years'    War,  increase    of 

prostitution  after,  4 
Tommasoli  cited,  note,  107 
Traite  des  Blanches,  La,  quoted, 

note,  206 

Transactions  of  the  American  So- 
ciety cited,  note,  225 
Trondhjem,  regulation  in,  105 
Tuberculosis,  relation  to  venereal 

diseases,  224 


U 


United  States,  see  America 
United    States    Supreme    Court, 

a  decision  of,  209 
"Unnatural  Vice,"  14,  15 


Index 


303 


Venereal  diseases,  laws  concern- 
ing, 26,  28,  35,  36;  49,  50;  statis- 
tics concerning,  51  ff.,  84,  93, 
101  ff.,  107;  in  armies,  53;  in 
British  army,  54;  in  Russian 
Universities,  55;  dangers  of,  57; 
66;  extent  of,  84;  contagion  of, 
92;  prostitutes  as  mediates,  96; 
frequency  according  to  control, 
98  ff. ;  difficulty  in  estimating 
extent  of,  99  ff. ;  experimental 
stations  for  study  of,  KtyfL;  123; 
treatment  for,  130,  193;  and 
innocent  persons,  132;  150; in 
British  army  and  navy,  164; 
189,  note,  192;  terrible  results 
of,  222  ff.  study  of,  in  America 
222  ff.;  relation  to  tuberculosis, 
224;  see  Gonorrhoea,  Syphilis 

Venereal  Disease,  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of,  194 

Venus,  priestesses  of,  note,  14 

Victoria,  194 

Vienna,  public  houses  established 
in,  1 6;  system  of  regulation  in, 
47  ff . ;  prostitution  in,  48 ;  note, 
83;  medical  congress  in,  1873, 
169;  preliminary  to  third  con- 
ference at,  204 

Vigilance,  207;  quoted,  note,  241 

Vigilance  Record,  The,  cited,  note, 
199 

Visigoths,  laws  of,  on  prostitution, 

15 

Vision  and  its  Fulfilment,  A ,  cited, 

note,  200 
Vorberg,  Dr.  Gaston,  cited,  note, 

194 

W 

Westerburg,  Otto,  192 

Western  Europe,  introduction  of 


prostitution,  2;  strict  repressive 
policy  in,  15 
White    Slaves    of   England,    The, 

cited,  note,  196 

White     slave,    investigations    of 

the  Committee  of  Fifteen,    207 

"White  Slaves,"  origin  of  name, 

196 

White-slave  traffic,  Conferences 
concerning,  197  et  seq.;  efforts 
to  suppress,  197  et  seq.;  congress 
held  in  London  for  suppression 
of,  200;  breaking  up  of,  200; 
International  Treaty  for  sup- 
pression of,  201 ;  treaty  quoted 
202;  relation  between  police 
and  traffic,  204;  increase  in 
Spain,  204;  in  America,  207 
et  seq. ;  laws  on,  in  United  States, 
208  ff.;  Act  in  United  States, 
209;  Special  Grand  Jury  to 
investigate,  210;  public  opinion 
aroused,  214 

White  Slave   Traffic  in  America, 
The,  cited,  note,  206,  note,  210 
Whitin,  Frederick  H.,  vi 
Wilson,  Hon.  Henry  J.,  173 
Wilson,  Dr.  H.  M.,  v,  173 
Winnipeg,  segregation  and  regu- 
lation in,  241 

Woltzendorff,  Kurt,  cited,  193 
Women's  Prison  Association  holds 
meeting  at  Cooper's  Union,  234 


Yoshiwara,  the,  195 
Yves-Guyot,      La      Prostitution, 

quoted,  note,   70;  cited,  note, 

82 


Zurich,  public  houses  established 
in,  16;  conference  at,  201 


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26. — The  Interpretation  of  Radium.  By  FREDERICK  SODDY,  Lecturer 
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BROSO.     Briefly  Summarized  by  his  Daughter,  Gina  Lombroso  Ferrero. 

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28. — The  Origin  of  Life.  Being  an  Account  of  Experiments  with  Certaiu 
Superheated  Saline  Solutions  in  Hermetically  Sealed  Vessels.  By  II. 
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ples and  Practice  of  Medicine,  University  College,  London  ;  Author  of 
"  The  Nature  and  Origin  of  Living  Matter,"  "  The  Evolution  of  Life," 
etc.  8vo.  With  10  Plates  Containing  61  Illustrations  from  Photo- 
micrographs. $1.50  net. 

"  This  most  noteworthy  and  compelling  book.  .  .  .  The  question — both  as  to 
•;he  supposed  origin  of  life  once  and  for  all,  and  also  as  to  the  supposed  impassable  gap  of 
to-day — is  surpassed  in  interest  by  nothing  in  the  whole  range  of  physical  sciences  ;  if, 
indeed,  there  be  any  to  equal  it  whether  in  interest  or  in  moment  for  our  philosophy." 

The  Morning  Post. 

29. — The  Bacillus  of  Long  Life.  A  Manual  of  the  Preparation  and 
Souring  of  Milk  for  Dietary  Purposes  ;  Together  with  an  Historical 
Account  of  the  Use  of  Fermented  Milks  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the 
Present  Day,  and  their  Wonderful  Effect  in  the  Prolonging  of  Human 
Existence.  By  LOUDON  M.  DOUGLAS,  F.R.S.E.  8vo.  With  56 
Illustrations.  $1.50  net. 

This  book  has  been  designed  with  a  view  to  meet  an  extensive  demand  for  definite 
data  on  the  subject  of  Soured  Milks.  The  author  has  had  this  matter  brought  before 
him,  times  without  number,  by  those  inquiring  for  authentic  information  on  the  subject, 
and  he  has  therefore  considered  it  desirable  to  gather  together  such  information  as  is 
available  in  connection  with  ancient  and  modern  practice.  He  has  endeavored  to  pre- 
sent this  to  the  reader  in  concise  form. 

In  preparation  : 
The  Invisible  Spectrum.    By  Professor  C.  E.  MENDENHALL,  University 

of  Wisconsin. 

The  Physiology  and  Hygiene  of  Exercise.  By  Dr.  G.  L.  MEYLAN. 
Columbia  University. 

Other  volumes  to  be  announced  lattr 


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